Scorpians
by Aris1013
Summary: The Frog Brothers tell Sam a secret they have been hiding for a long time. Sam promises them not to tell, but he must decide how to help them when telling could cost them everything.
1. Not What They Seem

**AN: This is a sort of what if for Lost Boys. Contains dark themes. Enjoy!**

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Sam had tried calling the Frog Brothers all day with no answer. A few months had passed since their defeat of the head vampire, and the three had grown close since then. Sam saw the brothers almost every day, but today he could not track them down. The Comic Book Shop was closed, and the two had not been seen since the day before, so Sam decided to make the trip to their house and see what was going on. When he got there, Sam noticed the boys' bikes were outside, so he decided to knock.

"Go away!" He heard the brothers yell in unison.

"It's Sam!"

"Go away, Sam!" Again they said it together.

Sam rolled his eyes, but felt determined to talk to Edgar and Alan. He peeked in the window and saw the house was a lot messier than it usually was. Worry washed over Sam, so he decided not to give up on talking to the Frog brothers. He knocked again on their door.

"Come on you guys! I've been trying to get ahold of you all day. What's going on?"

They did not answer, and Sam was getting impatient.

"Fine, I'm just going to come in then." He waited before barging into their house.

"Whatever, door's open." A defeated Edgar spoke from inside the house.

When Sam walked in the house, he realized it was more than just messy, it looked ransacked. Not to mention the Frog brothers looked like Hell. Bruises and cuts were visible on their faces.

"Was there a vampire attack? Are you guys okay?"

The two looked at each other before Alan answered. "Wasn't vampires."

Sam was confused. "Then what was it?"

"It's none of your business, okay?" Edgar glared.

"Look, whatever happened, you guys can tell me."

The boys only glared.

Sam sighed. "Listen, ever since we took out that vampire pack, I feel like we are close. We've been through something that makes us brothers. You two don't always have to be on your own."

Alan continued to glare, but Edgar turned to his brother. Alan met his eyes, but shook his head.

"No way."

"We can't hide this forever."

Alan sighed. "Fine, tell 'em."

Edgar turned back to Sam. "What I'm about to tell you is extremely confidential. No other soul on this planet can know. Not Michael, not your mom, not even Nanook. No one, got it?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I got it."

"I'm serious Sam, you can't tell anyone, even if you think it's for our own good, because it's not. There's things you can't understand okay."

"Swear it." Alan had his eyes on Sam the whole time.

Sam realized the Frog Brothers were not just being their dramatic selves. Whatever they were about to reveal to him was serious. "Okay, okay I swear it. I won't tell anyone."

The brothers nodded at each other, before Edgar spoke. "You've seen our parents around. Usually high as a freakin' kite behind the counter of the store. Most of the time that's how they are, but sometimes…"

"Sometimes…" Alan took over. "They run out of whatever they're on, and get crazy. They think they have drugs stashed in the house and trash it looking. When they don't have any, they decide we took it."

Sam could not fathom what they were telling him. Every time he had interacted with Mr. and Mrs. Frog, they seemed like chilled out people. "They do all this over a little weed and acid?"

Alan looked away. "They've gotten into some harder stuff over the last few years."

"Vampires are one thing, but you shouldn't have to worry in your own house about your family."

"We've been on our own for a long time, and we do just fine. Last night they just got the best of us." Edgar sounded like he was almost defending what happened.

"Guys this is serious. You shouldn't be worrying about stuff like this." Sam was beginning to regret the promise he had made to them. "You guy's shouldn't even live them if this happens."

"Look Sam, it's complicated. I told you there are things you wouldn't understand. We don't have any other family. Anyone find out about this and we get put into foster care. Probably split up, and probably far away. Besides the fact that we have a mission in this town, we've put our entire lives into that comic shop. If our parents get in trouble, we lose everything." Edgar had a glint of worry in his eyes.

Sam knew they were right, but he hated to think of it happening again.

"We have a plan." Alan could see the concerned look on their friend's face. "The second I turn eighteen, I'm taking the shop and moving out. If they try to fight Edgar coming with me, I'll adopt him."

"Steady income. Responsibility. Shouldn't be a problem." Edgar chimed in.

"Paperwork's already signed. Just have to date it."

"That's assuming you make it to eighteen." Sam could tell they had thought this out, but he knew a lot could go wrong. He looked around again, eyes landing on them. "Is this as bad as they get?"

Edgar shook his head. "We flushed their stash once. Every bit of it. They put us in the hospital. Alan was out for three days. They always go after him more."

Alan's cheeks grew a little red, but tried to lighten the situation. "It's because they like you better."

Edgar laughed a little. "It's because I talk more."

"You always lie."

"They don't know that. Besides we told the doctors and cops we got jumped for the night deposit at the store. They bought it, seemed plausible enough I guess."

Sam was still trying to wrap his head around everything they were telling him. "I need you guys to promise me something. If things get bad again, ever, just come to my house. I don't care if it's four in the morning, just come. We don't have to tell mom why, we'll just make something up. It's better than this happening again."

Edgar nodded. "Thanks, Sam."

Alan agreed. "Yeah, now wanna help us clean this up?"

Sam smiled. "Yeah, sure."

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After Sam helped the Frog Brothers clean up the rest of their house, he decided to head home. Knowing what he knew now, put him out of the mood of having any fun that day. When Sam walked into his house, he went to the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen island. His mind was still in deep thought about Mr. and Mrs. Frog. Sam had not even heard his mother come into the kitchen until she spoke.

"I thought you were out with those Frog boys today, Sam."

Sam perked up. "Oh, yeah, they were busy."

Lucy gave a sympathetic smile. "Oh, alright. Is everything okay?"

He looked at his mother and tried to picture what it would be like for her to snap at him and try to hurt him. He just couldn't do it. His mother did not have a cruel bone in her body. "Mom?"

"What is it honey?" She petted his head a little.

"What if you made a promise to someone, but you aren't sure if you should keep it. Like it might do a lot of bad by keeping it, but it could also be worse if you told?"

Lucy sat down on the stool next to her son. "Well, I think that keeping promises can be very important, but sometimes they need to be broken. You have to look in yourself and decide if the secret is better left untold or not. If someone is in danger, then someone should know, but it all comes down to what you believe. Does that help?"

Sam sighed. "Yeah."

When Sam did not go on, Lucy decided to ask. "Is there something you want to tell me sweetie?"

For a moment Sam wanted to tell his mother everything the Frog Brothers had told him, but then he remembered what Edgar had said. He made him promise not to tell, and he told him there were good reasons; ones Sam could never understand. Sam could not break his promise to them.

"No. Not right now at least. I'm not sure if anyone knowing is better."

Lucy nodded at her son. "Okay, just know I'm here anytime you need to talk. No judgements, I can just listen."

"Okay, thanks Mom." He gave her a tight hug. "I love you."

Lucy was a little surprised at the big hug her son had just given her, but she returned it, happy for the affection. She worried about her son, but she knew he was a good kid who would not let things get too out of hand.

Sam left the kitchen and went up to his room. He thought long about what his mother had said. Although Sam wanted to tell her what had happened to Edgar and Alan, he trusted the brothers. They told him it would do more bad than good to tell. Sam wondered how bad it would really get. Yeah they did not have any other family, but Sam was sure his mother would let the Frog Brothers live with them if they needed to. But there was also the comic shop. When Sam first met the boys they acted like they did not care that much about being there; that the shop was just a good cover for their real passion. While hunting vampires was their passion, the boys had poured everything into running that shop. The longer Sam knew them, the more he saw what they had to do to keep it going. Their parents could run it on their own, but not very well anymore. If Sam told they could lose it.

Sam sat on his bed weighing each option. For every pro he thought of a con, and vice versa. In the end he knew the Frog Brothers had entrusted him with their secret. He also had tried his best to give them an out if things began to get bad. If they had dealt with it for the last few years, then what would be a couple more? Sam decided that for the time being he would keep their secret, but if things ever got worse he would act as he saw fit. That was all he could do and hope he was making the right choice.

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 **AN: Thank you for reading!**


	2. That Night

For the Frog Brothers, the days following their parents having an "episode" always felt strange. After they cleaned up the house and got everything in order, they would open up the comic shop, and a few hours later their parents would waltz in just like normal. They paid no mind to the bruises and scrapes on their sons, but instead took their place by the TV behind the counter. The boys would ignore their parents right back. To the passerby they would never know anything had gone on between them, but inside, that night was all the boys could think about.

The boys were both asleep in the room they shared; each had a bed up against the opposite wall. Alan was the first to wake up from the noise downstairs. He knew what was going on, their parents were searching the house for drugs they thought they left somewhere. Alan jumped out of bed yelling for his brother.

"Edgar, get up!" He grabbed the thick piece of board they kept by the door for this purpose, and jammed it underneath their doorknob.

Edgar was up now, realizing what was happening. They stood in the middle of the room for a moment before they heard banging on the bedroom door. The boys jumped and backed away, getting underneath the desk by their window. It did not give them much protection, but the confined space always provided a bit of comfort. They held onto each other as their parents screamed at them from the other side.

"Open this damn door! We know you're in there!" Their Dad's voice was coming through.

"Boys, just give us our stash back!" Their mother pulled back and forth on the handle.

The boys stayed silent, waiting for them to leave. After about five more minutes of them yelling and banging on the door, the boys heard their parents scramble away. They heard the front door shut, and then silence. They stayed under the desk for a while longer. Both boys knew their parents were usually more determined to break the door down, but it seemed like they had really left.

"How trashed do you think it is out there?" Edgar kept his eyes on the door.

"Dunno, heard them down there for a bit." Alan looked at his brother.

He knew his brother cared more about if their parents were really gone than the state of the house. They both knew the smarter thing to do would be to stay in their room for the rest of the night, but curiosity always got the best of them. Alan got up as slow as he could, and headed towards the door, listening for any sign of life on the other side. Edgar too got up, but stayed behind his brother. Alan listened once more before removing the block of wood from underneath the door handle. He turned the knob to peek outside of their room. Nothing. No one was around, so he opened the door and stepped out. He waited a moment before looking at Edgar.

"I think they're really-" Before Alan could finish his sentence, his mother sprang out of the other room and tackled him.

Edgar screamed at her, running for the door, but Alan pulled it shut, hoping his brother would have enough time to place the wood back. Mr. Frog, however, was already running up the stairs and pushing the door back open. He went straight for Edgar, yelling about their lost drugs.

"Where is it?" He grabbed Edgar by his T-shirt.

Alan began to jump towards him, but for the first time since his mother jumped him, he realized she was holding a knife to his throat.

"Shhh, baby, just tell us where it is."

"We didn't take it!" Alan was terrified of the situation they were now in.

Edgar scowled at his father. "You did it all! We wouldn't take your precious shit from you!" That got him a hard punch to the face, and once he was down the kicking started.

Alan grabbed his mother's arm and elbowed her in the stomach. He ducked under the knife and pushed his father away from Edgar.

Their father kicked Alan down. "Just tell us what you did with it!"

Mrs. Frog ran into the room, knife in hand. He grabbed Alan again, this time tighter. "Start looking!"

Tears ran down Alan's face as his mother held the knife close. Edgar sat helpless knowing any sudden moves could make things worse.

The boys watched as their Dad overturned their room.

"What'd you do with it, huh?" He flipped Alan's mattress, and was making his way to Edgar's when Edgar grabbed his leg to stop him.

"Leave our stuff alone!"

His Dad smacked him off his leg, and continued to the bed.

Their Mother grabbed Alan tighter. "Did you flush it again?"

Alan shook his head. "After last time? Never. I swear you did it all. There's just none left, okay."

Mr. Frog found Edgar's backpack under the bed and emptied its contents onto the floor. Stakes, garlic, and holy water fell out, but what interested him the most was the fifteen dollars that fell out too. He snatched it up and walked over to Edgar.

"What's this? You sell it?"

"What? No, that's ours!" Edgar was fed up now.

"You sold our stash?" Alan could hear the disappointment in his Mother's voice.

"We didn't, we swear."

Mr. Frog shook his head and pushed him back a little. "That's it." He punched Alan in the gut, but looked at Edgar. "Watch your cry-baby brother, Edgar." He punched him again. "You gonna let this happen?" Another punch.

Alan hated how often he was used as a pawn. He could not help the tears that fell, or the tremble in his skin.

Edgar was crying a little too, but their parents did not care. They only had one thing on their mind. "I told you, that's ours. We want anything to do with your stupid drugs!"

Their father was still not satisfied with this. He backed away from Alan, but motioned for his wife to hold him again.

"You make us have to hurt you sweetie." She dragged the knife across Alan's collar bone causing him to yell out.

"Oh God, I swear we didn't take it!" Edgar knew he needed to think fast. "W-wasn't Freddie here the other day? I bet he did it. He's always mooching off you guys. Please I swear we don't' have it. Keep looking if you want, it's not here, and we didn't sell it. Please."

The silence in the air almost hurt as the boys waited to know if their parents would accept the bait or not. After what felt like an eternity, Mr. Frog pocketed the money and nodded at his wife to get up.

"We can get more now, then we'll go see about Freddie."

Mrs. Frog shoved Alan away and ran out of the room with her husband. Edgar followed behind them shutting the door, and replacing the wood. He then dug out the first aid kit hidden behind his bed. He sat down on the floor across from Alan, who was holding his bleeding shoulder.

"Let's see." Edgar signaled for Alan to remove his hand, which was now covered in the oozing red liquid.

"I think it looks worse than it is." Alan winced as Edgar began to wipe the blood away with an old bandana he got off the floor.

"Probably needs stitches." Edgar grunted.

"I'm not letting you sew into my skin, bro. It'll be fine."

"Fine, but if you bleed to death, don't blame me."

Alan only grunted in return. "That decoy money was a good idea."

"Yeah, got them out of our hair for awhile."

"Yeah…" Alan paused as Edgar finished bandaging him up. "This sucks."

Edgar stopped. "Just two more years and we can get out of here."

"How many times are they gonna almost kill us before then?"

Edgar said nothing, but wiped the blood away from his busted lip.

After the boys finished patching themselves up, they began to clean up their room. As soon as the sun came up they would go check on the rest of the house. Any time before that would be too risky. They cleaned in silence, putting things back in order. Both boys tried to deny what their lives were, what their parents were, but they both knew that this time would not be the last. They both knew that the next time could be the worst of them all.

"Did ya hear me?"

Alan snapped out of his thoughts to see Sam standing in front of the counter. "What'd you say?"

"I asked if you an Edgar wanted to come over for dinner tonight. Mom said you could stay over if you want."

"Oh, yeah sure. Thanks." Alan was still trying to figure out where he was.

"You okay?"

Alan realized he was lost in the events of the other night. "Yeah, fine."

Sam nodded, not wanting to push it anymore. He knew the boys were not okay. He could tell they had been zoning out and distant since they told him what had happened. When Sam came into the comic shop he noticed Edgar mindlessly stocking comics, and Alan staring off into space behind the counter. He was sure their parents being passed out next to the television did not help with that. The dinner invitation was Sam's attempt at getting their mind off of what had happened, he just hoped it would help.

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The boys were always quiet, so Lucy did not think anything of their behavior when they came over for dinner. She did however notice the bruising on the boys.

"Oh my, what happened to you two?"

Edgar smiled a little at the concern in her voice. "Vampires."

"Boys, you shouldn't be going after things like that, especially after what happened in this house. It's dangerous."

"We're professionals ma'am, we know what we're doing." Edgar nodded at her in confidence, and Lucy was forced to accept it. She was not their mother after all.

Sam panicked for a moment when his mother asked about them, but then he realized how quick Edgar was to the punch. He wondered how often they had to lie to people about what was really going on.

The Frog Brothers were quiet through most of dinner, but like before that was not unusual. After they were done they thanked Lucy for the food and headed upstairs with Sam. While Sam broke out his comic books, he noticed the brothers pull a map and a notebook out of Edgar's backpack. Sam shut his comic and scooted to where the boys were sprawled out on the floor.

"What's all that?"

Edgar looked up from the map. "We think we found a vamp nest, followed one to a cave on the beach a few nights ago."

"We're gonna torch the bloodsuckers." Alan nodded in triumph.

Sam looked at the plans. "Can I help?"

The boys looked at each other, but Edgar spoke. "I think you should sit this one out."

"What? No fair! I helped take out the last ones, why can't I help you with this?"

Alan sighed. "It'll be dangerous."

"Might get killed." Edgar glared.

"I can handle myself just fine. Besides you guys were screaming just as much when we staked that guy." Sam wanted to help.

"We were young and naïve then." Edgar put his hand out in defense.

"That was a few months ago." Sam smiled.

"Your mom won't approve." Alan gave him a look.

Sam shrugged. "She doesn't have to know."

"She'll know when you become vampire food." Edgar glared.

"Come on guys. It'll be better with my help."

Alan rolled his eyes. "Fine, you can come."

"Yes!" Sam was excited to help with their plan.

For the next half hour Edgar and Alan discussed the details of the mission to Sam. They had to make sure every detail was right so they did not end up with a blood fest like they had before. If they could take out the whole nest, then they would not have to worry about the creatures wanting revenge.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	3. The Hunt

**Thank you Rivinia1 for reviewing!**

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The boys got up early the next morning and gathered all the supplies they needed for their current mission. They headed to the cave on the beach they knew the vampire nest was in. As they walked along the shore, Edgar looked at Sam, who seemed nervous.

"You can still back out Sam."

Alan nodded. "Yeah, we won't blame you for sitting this one out."

Sam thought about taking the pass, but he was determined to be a part of their team. "No, no I can do this, guys."

"Suit yourself." Edgar nodded ahead of him. "That's it over there."

As the boys entered the cave, they could all feel the intensity among them. Memories of their last encounter circled their minds. They almost died when they staked Marko, and that was not something they wanted to repeat. The boys were all quiet as they went in, they knew vampires were heavy sleepers in the day, but one wrong move could get them killed. They kept walking until they noticed the flies. That and the foul smell was their guide. The path was narrow and rocky for a while, but then it opened up to a bigger section of the cave. There was a small stream running to the side. Edgar pointed up, and they all held their breath as they saw four vampires hanging above them. It was a small nest, but smaller meant less risk for them. Edgar and Alan began to unpack their supplies.

"Are you guys sure about this?" Sam whispered, realizing this plan may not be the best.

Alan unscrewed a can of gasoline. "We're already here, Sam, now shut up."

Edgar was getting the rest of the supplies ready, while Alan spread gasoline underneath the resting vampires. He looked up after every step to make sure he did not wake anything up. He sat the can down and went back over to Edgar who handed him a bottle with a rag stuffed in it. He then handed one to Sam.

"What is this?" Sam took the bottle from Edgar.

"Molotov cocktail, alcohol in the bottle spreads the fire." Edgar held up a lighter. "You ready?"

Sam gulped but nodded. Edgar lit the end of the rag and then lit his and Alan's.

"Aim for their feet." Edgar looked at the other two. "On three?"

Alan and Sam nodded.

"One. Two. Three."

The boys all gripped their bottles and then threw them as hard as they could. Edgar's hit the feet of the vampire he was aiming for, and erupted into a sea of flames. Alan's hit one of the vampires in the chest, and Sam's went too high missing the vampires, but hitting a rock at the top of the cave. The flames from Sam's rained down below igniting all the gasoline Alan had spread. As soon as the first bottle had broken, the vampires woke up hissing and screaming. The fire was spreading across all of them. One fell into the flames, unable to escape. The two that were directly hit fought the flames, but they only grew larger. The last one had caught fire as well, but was better off than the others. He wanted revenge on the young hunters.

When they realized that all four vampires were not engulfed in flames, the boys began to run towards the cave entrance. Edgar and Alan remembered the last time they got chased in a vampire den, so they shoved Sam in front of them to make sure he did not get caught this time. The brothers looked back as the burning vampire was catching up.

"Run! Go!" Edgar pushed Sam a little to get him going faster, keeping an eye on his brother.

The boys ran faster, screaming in terror as the flames came closer. After what seemed like miles, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Edgar turned to see the vampire fall before they reached the end of the cave. He grabbed Alan and Sam to stop them so they could watch.

"Whoa." Sam stared with wide eyes as the vampire rolled around on the cave floor in flames.

The hissing and screaming sounds coming from the creature made Alan want to cover his ears. The boys calmed when they heard silence. The fire still continued, but the vampire was turning to ash. Smiles spread across their out of breath faces and the boys joined together in celebration.

"We are awesome!" Edgar could not take his eyes off of their handy work.

"Death to all vampires!" Alan nodded in excitement.

"You guys are nuts, that was terrifying!" Sam laughed, mostly because of nerves.

"We should go in case there are more asleep somewhere else in the cave. Don't want them knowing who did this." Edgar looked nervous.

The other two agreed and followed Edgar out of the cave, and onto the beach. When they got into the sunlight, Sam realized how dirty they had just become from their short time in the cave.

"Guys, I don't think we can just walk around town like this. I mean we did just set fire to a cave."

Alan looked at Edgar and Sam. "He does have a point, we look pretty obvious."

Sam looked at the water and then back at his friends and smiled. "Hey, we are on the beach. We could have some fun for once. You guys remember what fun is right?"

Edgar rolled his eyes. "We don't have time for fun when the whole town is crawling with vampires."

Sam shook his head. "You should really learn to chill out from time to time Edgar. Come on, we have to wash off anyway. We might as well enjoy it."

The brothers watched as Sam took off towards the ocean. Alan shrugged and followed behind, while Edgar huffed in frustration, but went along with them anyway. The boys all threw their shirts aside and dived into the cool water. Sam began to splash them, which erupted into a water fight. Edgar would never admit it, but he was having fun. Anyone watching the boys would see the smiles on their faces and the laughter in the air. They were just three normal kids having a good time, not needing to grow up too fast for any reason, or hunting for supernatural creatures in the early hours of the day.

Once they tired of the water, the boys all threw themselves onto the sand and let the sun soak into their skin. After a little while, Sam sat up and observed his two friends. The faint bruises from their parents were still visible on their skin. Sam noticed the cut along Alan's collarbone, and wondered what exactly had happened that night. He knew that for just a moment they were all just kids, but reality was coming back. Sam could not keep his mouth shut any longer.

"Have they left you alone since that night?"

Edgar and Alan were thrown a little off guard by this, but once they realized Sam was staring at their bruises they knew what he was talking about.

Alan stayed quiet, but Edgar spoke as he looked out towards the sea line. "They've been ignoring us like usual. This kind of thing doesn't happen that often."

"How often does it happen?" Sam knew he was going to upset Edgar with the questions, but he did not care. He wanted to protect his friends.

"I don't know Sam, it's not like we have a calendar to tell us when our parents are going to go crazy and try to kill us, it just happens sometimes."

"Sorry." Sam stayed quiet after that and so did the Frog Brothers.

Sam was beginning to understand the two brothers. They threw themselves into tracking down and eliminating vampires. Sam realized it was a distraction from what was going on in their own lives. Yes vampires were a problem in the Santa Carla, but no one took that problem more serious than the Frog's. The two boys had to take care of themselves, the comic shop, their house, and their parents. They had no time to just stop and enjoy being kids. As Sam thought about that, he decided he was going to make them stop more and have a little fun. He may have to twist their arms to do it, but in the end it would be worth it. Sam knew they had fun playing on the beach, even if they had taken out a vampire nest before that.

"Aren't you guy's glad we hung around for a while? All this sunlight is nice." Sam smiled as he let the sun sink into his skin.

Edgar sat up. "Thrilled, but there is still work to be done. We took out one nest today, and that's great, but Santa Carla is still packed with night crawlers. Tonight we have to stock and stake out any potential bloodsuckers."

Alan pounded his fist and nodded.

Sam sighed. "Just once it would be nice to not chase creatures of the undead."

"You don't have to come, Emerson. We have a duty, you don't." Alan began to brush the sand off of his shorts.

"I know, but I guess I don't have anything better to do, so whatever." Sam rolled his eyes at the Frog Brother's devotion to their cause.

They stayed on the beach for a while longer before heading back to the boardwalk. Sam was surprised to see that the comic shop was open. He had never seen that place run without the Frog brothers, and was not even sure if their parents actually had to keys to the place. Apparently they were capable of running their business without their boys around.

"Looks like they remembered to open for us." Edgar nodded, also surprised his parents did what they had asked them to.

When they walked in their parents were behind the counter, awake, but zoned out. Edgar and Alan hoped that they were with it enough to stop people from stealing, but when they were like that, there was no telling if they paid attention or not.

Sam could feel the tension between the Frog Brother's and their parents. Looking at them would never give away their feelings, but Sam could tell. No Frog said one word to the other as Edgar and Alan headed to the back. Sam followed, still trying to imagine the Frog's becoming violent and hurting his friends. Once they were in the back, Edgar and Alan began to unload their supplies from that morning. They needed to record what had happened and figure out where they were going next. They would have to spend the next few nights after the shop closed to track down any vampires they could find. They knew there was still a bunch crawling around, and they intended on finding them all.

Over the next few weeks Sam helped the Frog Brothers with their vampire hunting. They did not get a lot accomplished, but from the way the two talked, anyone would think they had taken out hundreds. Each night Sam would read comics before bed and think about the promise he made with his two friends. He told them if things ever got bad to come over no matter what time. Sam expected to hear a knock on the door or his window night after night, but none came. He thought something would happen, but thankfully it never did. Finally on a night Sam had stopped thinking about what could be happening to his two best friends he was awoken by a frantic knock on the door.

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 **AN: Thank you for reading!**


	4. Discovered

**Thank you Rivinia1 for reviewing!**

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Edgar and Alan were chilling out on their couch in the living room watching T.V one night after they had closed the comic book shop. They had taken the long way home to keep an eye out for potential vampires, but all was quiet on the board walk. Weekdays usually were, but the boys still felt like they had a duty to uphold. Some black and white horror movie was playing, but Alan could barely keep his eyes open. He began to nod off and on, while Edgar was zoned into the television screen. He was not paying attention to what was going on, but his eyes were glued to the greyscale light reflecting back onto him. Both boys were minutes away from falling asleep when they heard voices outside the front door. Edgar snapped up, hitting Alan in the arm, the voices of their parents became recognizable. The boys shot up and booked it upstairs. Their parents were bringing friends over and anytime they were around them, they would mess with the brothers until one of them snapped yelling for them to leave the boys alone. Their parents rarely did anything but yell and talk down to them, but they found it best to avoid them all together and lock themselves in their room.

Edgar and Alan got to their room and put the piece of wood under their knob before their parents made it through the front door. They figured they had an annoying night of distant laughing and talking to look forward to, but instead everyone that entered the house began screaming for the boys and running up the stairs.

"Boys! We know you're here! Get your asses downstairs!" Their mother yelled for them.

Edgar looked at Alan with wide eyes, not sure what was going on. Something was not right, so after giving each other a mental talk they went to the window hoping to sneak out and come back after things had calmed down. Edgar opened the window, but stopped when he looked outside.

"Shit."

Alan peeked out to see what he was looking at. One of their parents' friends was outside smoking. They knew he would see them as soon as they tried to get out, and their parents would just drag them inside. All they could do now was retreat under their desk, hoping their silence would make their parents and their friends go away. It did not take long for them to realize their silence only made it worse. Alan grabbed Edgar's arm as the yelling outside their door got louder. It sounded like their parents had at least four other people with them, all trying to get in. Someone began to ram the door, each time causing the boys to jump. On the fourth try the board wedged under their doorknob snapped, and the door flew open. Edgar and Alan squeezed each other's arms as everyone came into their room. Two guys out of their parents' circle grabbed the brothers and dragged them out from under the desk. Edgar and Alan struggled and fought as they were pulled out of their room and forced downstairs. Mr. and Mrs. Frog led the group down the stairs. Alan was in front of Edgar and tripped on the fifth stair. The man dragging him gripped tighter, not giving him a chance to stand back up. Edgar was trying to keep his balance, but the man forcing him down the stairs had a tight grip on his arm. Once they were downstairs the boys were thrown to the ground only to be grabbed again and held still.

"Don't let them get away." Mr. Frog glared at his sons.

Edgar shook his head. "What's going on? What the hell is wrong with you?" He looked around to find two men holding him and Alan, a woman standing by his mother, and another guy standing behind his Dad.

"Shut up! Did you think we were that stupid? Did you think we wouldn't find out?" Mrs. Frog was looking at Alan.

"What are you talking about?" Alan gritted his teeth.

His mother rummaged through the bag she had now taken off of her shoulder and pulled out a handful of papers. She waved them in front of her eldest son.

Alan's heart sank. They had found the papers he had made up to switch the comic shop into his name. The papers that he forged their signature on, and would essentially steal their business away from them, leaving them with nothing.

"How could you do this to us? You thought you could just steal everything we've worked for? You ungrateful little shit!" She kicked him and threw the papers at him.

Mr. Frog turned his attention to Edgar. "You put him up to this didn't you? You're always the ringleader!" He jumped at his son and began to hit him.

"It's not what you think!" Edgar tried to hide his face from the blows. "Alan made those a long time ago in case something happened to you guys. We just wanted to make sure no one came in and took the shop from under us. I swear!"

Mr. Frog kept hitting him. "No, you're a liar Edgar. You always lie!"

"You're right!" Alan yelled, tears creeping in the corners of his eyes. He could not let them hurt his brother. "He does lie. He's lying about this to share the blame. Edgar had no idea I did this. It was me, not him." He turned to his mother. "He's still your good son, you're right about me. I wanted the shop for myself. I wanted to steal it from you. I didn't think you'd ever find out since you guys are wasted all the time. We deserve that place a hell of a lot more than you do."

"Alan, shut up!" Edgar knew what his brother was doing, but he wished he would stop.

Mr. Frog's face was bright red. "What did you just say boy?"

Alan clenched his jaw and stared at his father in the eye. "You heard me, asshole. You two are terrible parents who don't deserve anything you have."

Mr. Frog jumped at Alan and began to empty his anger out on him.

"That's right, teach him a lesson!" The man Edgar recognized at Lawrence, one of the guys he saw around a lot, yelled.

Edgar tried to fight the man holding him, needing to get to his brother. "Stop it! Please, just stop!"

The adults in the room were all laughing and yelling as Mr. Frog beat his son.

Mrs. Frog decided to join in the crazy, but accusing them of more things.

"What else have you stolen huh? I know you've stolen our stash before, what else do you have hidden away?"

That made Mr. Frog stop and turn to his wife. "I bet they have a bunch of stuff up there." He turned Lawrence. "Come on, let's go see."

Mr. Frog and his friend ran out of the room and up the stairs. The boys could hear them tear apart their room. Edgar looked at his brother who was trying to recover from being hit over and over. No one was holding Alan, but they were keeping a close eye on them. Alan spit blood from his busted lip onto the carpet and looked at Edgar. His eyes went to the door, telling Alan that they needed to make a break for it. Alan nodded and waited for Edgar to give him the signal to get up and run. Edgar took a deep breath and then head butted the man holding him. His grip loosened, and Edgar was able to get up running over to Alan to help him the rest of the way off the ground.

"Get back down here!" Mrs. Frog yelled as she began to follow the boys to the door.

The Frog Brothers ran, swinging the door open. They thought they were going to make it when a long blond haired man tackled Edgar to the ground. Alan had to step back, they forgot about the guy outside. Someone grabbed Alan from behind, while the other woman in the room shut the door and locked it. At this time Mr. Frog and Lawrence were downstairs. The grips on the boys got tighter than before, but they still struggled to get away. Mrs. Frog grabbed Edgar and sat down, wrapping her arms around him, almost like she was giving him a hug. Edgar knew the tight embrace was not meant to be affectionate.

"Where the hell did you think you were going, huh?" He kicked Edgar in the knee causing him to wince in pain.

"Don't touch him!" Alan was crying, but anger trumped his fear.

"Shut up! You're always the cry baby." Mr. Frog went to hit Edgar again, but Alan yelled once more.

"You're terrible parents! Do you not realize how fucked up it is that you're even doing this right now? We're your kids! And yeah I put the shop in my name, because I knew I could take care of it. You know how much crap gets stolen when you guys are alone there? Maybe you had it together before, but now that you're hooked on whatever it is that makes you wasted all the time, you suck!"

"Don't let him talk to you like that, man." Lawrence seemed to instigate more than the others. He had short brown hair, and was on the scrawny side, but seemed to have sway amongst the group.

Mr. Frog took his advice. "Yeah." He began to kick Alan, and then the scrawny guy and their other friend decided to join in to.

"Stop it!" Edgar screamed, but his mother began to shush and rock him.

"Shh, shh, shh, baby. He's been bad. You're still a good boy though."

"Fuck." Edgar was crying, trying to figure out how to get out their current situation.

Mr. Frog and his friends continued to beat Alan, until he made a weird coughing noise and tried taking deep breaths. The men were out of breath, but still angry. Small whimpers were coming from Alan, mirrored by his brother's cries.

"Are we all calm now?" Lawrence looked at the two boys. "Good, now let's just take a minute to breath yeah?"

He left the room and went into the kitchen. Edgar could hear him rummaging around in there, so he took that opportunity to try and wriggle out of his mother's grip.

"No, this has to happen, Edgar. You boys have to learn not take things from us." Her arms tightened around him.

The man came back into the room holding a spoon which confused Edgar.

"Now, when your parents told me what happened, I just couldn't stand to see such ungrateful children in their midst. They've raised you, and what thanks to they get? You see boys, what you tried to pull doesn't just affect your folks. It affects everyone."

He pulled out a lighter and began to hold it under the spoon, kneeling down next to Edgar.

"Your parents are two of my best costumers. Their money comes from that business, you take away their business, you take away my money. You have to understand from a business standpoint, that does not make me very happy. I told them we needed to take care of you two, teach you two not misbehave."

Edgar could not believe his parents were letting this happen.

The man got closer to Edgar. "Your parents say you're usually the ring leader out of the two of you, but he's older isn't he? He wants to protect you, and now it's time for big brother to take responsibility for what's happened."

"What are you doing?" Edgar could not stand this any longer.

"He has to be punished, baby." Mrs. Frog stroked Edgar's head.

The man stood up and motioned to one of the other guys in the room. "Hold him down."

The guy obeyed and pushed Alan down further into the carpet. The boy was already trying to stay conscious after his beat down, and had his face bleeding into the floor. He was in too much pain to fight it off, so all he could do was wince as the pressure was applied to his back and shoulders.

Lawrence walked over to Alan and knelt beside him. He stared at Alan's beaten face for a moment before pressing the now hot spoon against the back of his bare arm. Alan's screams filled the house, prompting Edgar to fight harder to get to his brother.

"He has to learn." Mrs. Frog watched as the man tortured her son.

Edgar shook his head. "Stop it! Get the hell off of him!"

Lawrence ignored Edgar. "I think we need to continue this lesson until it sticks." He held the lighter under the spoon again to heat it up more.

Edgar would not see his brother get burned again. Anger engulfed him and then everything happened all at once. He head butted his mother in the face and then elbowed her hard enough to knock her down. He grabbed a heavy glass ashtray off of the coffee table and threw it right at Lawrence's head. He dropped the spoon and the lighter, and fell next to Alan. Edgar ran by the stairs and grabbed a baseball bat they kept near it. He came back swinging at anyone trying to stop him. His father went down, knocked out. The woman in the room backed away against the door, along with the long blond haired guy. Edgar hit the one that had been holding Alan down. Edgar knew he only had a small amount of time. Adrenaline was pumping in his system enough to let him somehow carry his brother up the stairs and into their room. He knew going out the front door would get them caught faster. Edgar sat him down on his bed and then shut the door. He pulled their desk over and shoved it against the wood. He pulled Alan's bed out more and shoved that against the desk creating a stopper that would not let the door be opened very much.

For a moment Edgar had a chance to look at his brother. His face was covered in blood. One eye had already sealed itself almost shut. The other eye was distant and unfocused. Edgar worried how bad off he was, but he knew he had to get them out of there. Lawrence was at their door, pounding on it, trying to push it open. The desk was holding up at the moment, but Edgar knew it might not last forever. He ran over to his brother and got his attention.

"We have to get out of here." He spoke low enough that Lawrence would not hear them. "You have to help me though, okay?"

Alan nodded, unable to form words.

"Okay." Edgar hauled Alan up and led him to the window.

There was a tree close enough to their window that they could climb out. They did this every now and then, but Edgar was concerned about how they were going to get down now. The pounding on his door was getting louder, so he knew he had no choice. They had to get out, or face the wrath of everyone in the house.

"You need to go first so I can help you." Edgar held onto his brother as he helped him onto the window sill.

Alan's body was throbbing all over. He knew they had to get out, but he could barely keep conscious to know what was going on. He winced as Edgar helped him into the window sill. Breathing was difficult; his side was on fire. He looked down at the gap between the window and the tree. Usually he had no problem getting from one spot to the other, but right now it looked like it might as well have been a thousand feet away.

"I don't think I can do this." His voice was wheezy and low.

"I'm not leaving you here, and I'm not sticking around, so our only option is down. It's gonna hurt, but it's better than finding out what else that psycho wants to do." Edgar held his brother steady.

Alan nodded, knowing his brother was right. He reached for the tree branch and let Edgar push him onto the tree. He grunted in pain, but hugged the tree trunk for dear life. Once he was secure, Edgar jumped out onto the tree as well. He too winced in pain, but he was not near as bad off as his brother.

"Okay, we can do this." Edgar was trying to figure out how to get down from there.

He hoped Lawrence and the other would try to get into their room for a while. They did not know the boys had an escape, so they could only assume they were hiding in their room. Edgar jumped down to the next branch and then held out his hand to Alan. The older Frog accepted the hand and shuffled onto the next branch.

"See, almost there." Edgar was trying to sound confident, but it was not working.

The next branch was further down, but Edgar was able to jump down to it. He instructed Alan to wiggle down as slow as he could so he could come onto the next branch. At this point, Alan was out of breath, but they were almost out of the tree. Edgar knew this was the hardest part; on a normal day they would just jump down to the ground, but right now he worried about the pain that would cause.

"Here, I'll try to drop you as close as I can to the ground, try not to make noise."

Alan gave his brother a desperate look, but could not think of any other way to get out of the tree. He tried to go down as much as he could, but in the end Edgar used all of his strength to lower him closer to the ground. Alan's hands slipped out of Edgar's and a small grunt escaped his lips as he hit the ground. It had knocked the wind out of him. Edgar shimmied down the trunk a little, but too, fell. His noise was a little louder, but still unheard by anyone inside. His knee where his father had kicked him was throbbing, and the fall sent more pain up his ankle, but he knew he had to support his brother as they made their escape. Edgar scooped Alan's arm over his shoulder and grabbed his waist.

"Ah, I don't know if we can do this." Alan could barely stand; he did not want to think about how much it would hurt to get away from their house.

"Just push through, we can't stay here." Edgar began to limp as fast as he could, practically carrying Alan the entire way.

Edgar walked quick for a while. He knew they needed to get as much distance between them and their house as they could. Once he was sure they were out of sight, he slowed his pace a little, but never stopped. Stopping could mean the end for them. The brothers were both quiet as they hobbled down the dark streets. All Edgar could think about was getting help. He could not worry about anything else.

A sigh of relief washed over Edgar when he saw a familiar street. The trek up the driveway was a ways, but after the walk they just had completed, it was nothing. They had reached Sam's house. The only place Edgar knew to go. The only person that would be able to help them. Still holding Alan, Edgar pounded on the door. It did not take long for Michael to open it, looking tired and confused.

Edgar looked at him with broken and desperate eyes. "Please help us."

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	5. Help

**Thank you Rivinia1 for reviewing!**

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When Michael heard knocking at 3am he expected trouble on the other side of the door. What he did not expect when he opened it, were two bloodied and beaten Frog Brothers. The two boys were a mess. Edgar had a busted lip, bruising on his face, and scrapes on his hands, head, and cheeks. He looked out of breath, but nowhere near as bad as the boy he was holding up. Alan was leaning heavy against his brother, barely able to keep his eyes open. There was a lot of blood on his face, and his left eye was nearly swollen shut. Michael stared at the two for a moment before Sam appeared at the door.

"Oh my God." He sprang into action and helped Edgar get Alan inside.

Michael turned on the lights as they brought the boys to the couch in the living room. Lucy and her Dad had awoken at this point and were heading downstairs.

"What on Earth is going on?" Lucy tightened her robe as she came into the living room. At first he eyes were angry, but then the landed on the Frogs. "Oh my goodness, what happened?"

"They need help Mom." Sam was trying to survey his two friends.

"We need to call an ambulance." Lucy was about to go look for the phone when Edgar yelled.

"No! No hospitals please, we can't, just help us however you can please." Edgar looked panicked.

"Honey, this is bad, you both need doctors."

Edgar's breathing increased. "Please, please just trust me, we can't go. Don't call anyone please."

Lucy was about to interject again, but her father interrupted.

He looked over Alan. "Anything life threatening, boy?"

Alan was still trying to keep his eyes open. He shrugged, but shook his head no.

"Okay then." He looked at his daughter.

"Dad, we can't just-"

He put a hand on her shoulder, and kept his voice low. "Lucy, we patch them up as good as we can now, and worry about hospitals later. Having them panic over this will only make things worse."

Lucy wanted to protest, but she knew the boys needed their help now. She nodded and jumped into action.

"Michael go get the first aid kit, Sam we need some wet towels." She came over and looked at Alan.

As soon as the Emerson boys came back they handed their mother what she asked for. Michael went to check on Edgar.

"No, just help him, he's worse." Edgar pushed his hand away.

"You're not looking too good yourself, buddy. They've got him, let me help you."

Edgar looked over at his brother, he had never seen him hurt this bad before. Tears welled up in his eyes.

Michael looked at Alan and then Edgar. He had forgotten how young they really were. They always acted like they had been hunting vampires for years, but really they were just a little older than Sam. Right now they seemed so vulnerable and afraid; he hated to think what had caused the boys such pain.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be okay. Alan's gonna be fine, alright." Michael tried to get Edgar's attention back to him.

Lucy began to wipe the blood away from Alan's face. He flinched at the touch and his breathing increased, which caused him to cough and wheeze. The sound he made terrified Edgar and he began to panic a little.

"What's happening?" Edgar tried to stand up, but Michael stopped him. More tears came and his breathing, too increased.

"Edgar, you need to calm down okay. He's still scared so his body is reacting. We aren't going to let anything happen. You just need to start focusing on me, alright." Michael grabbed his shoulders and made Edgar look him in the eye.

Edgar looked at Michael, but said nothing. Tears still streamed down his face.

"Alan, you need to stay awake, okay? Can you do that?" Lucy was calming him down, but the boy did not seem like he was going to stay conscious for much longer.

She wiped away the rest of the blood, and put bandages where they were needed. His eyebrow had a bad cut, as well as his cheek.

"I need to check your ribs." Lucy smiled and lifted up Alan's shirt a little. There was bruising, but she hoped not enough to mean they were broken. Lucy began to gently poke each rib causing Alan to wince. "I think they are okay, just going to hurt for a while."

"His arm."

Lucy looked at Edgar who motioned back at his brother. Lucy looked at Alan's arm until she found the burn. She gasped a little before putting medicine on it. Alan's head began to lull, and before Lucy could say anything the boy was out. She looked at her father in panic, but he put a hand on Alan's forehead and nodded at Lucy.

"He'll be alright. Needs rest."

Lucy put a blanket over him and turned her attention to Edgar.

"Sweetie, I'm going to help you now, okay?"

Edgar was a in a daze now.

Michael had wiped away all the blood, but there were a few cuts that still needed treatment. While Lucy was helping him, Michael got a glass of water for the Frog. Edgar took it when he came back, but only took a few sips. His eyes would not leave his brother.

"You need rest too. We'll discuss all of this later. Sam, I think you should stay with them." Lucy knew she was not getting any more sleep, but she did not want to crowd Edgar. She hoped making Sam stay in the room would give him some comfort.

Sam sat on the floor in front of Edgar. He knew what had happened, but he did not know why. Apparently his face said it all, because Edgar gave him his answer.

"They found the papers. The ones Alan made out signing the shop over. They brought their friends over and…"

"Edgar…" Sam was not sure what to say to his friend.

"He always has to protect me. I don't know why he does it, he takes everything he can for me, but it shouldn't be like that. We're supposed to be a team, we should be sharing it, but instead he almost gets himself killed." Edgar looked at the floor.

"I think there's something about being an older brother, even if it is just a year, that they need to protect us. He just wanted to protect you." Sam could barely look at him.

"He shouldn't be such an idiot."

Sam laughed a little. "He'd say the same thing if this were turned around. You should really get some sleep, Alan isn't going anywhere, and neither am I."

"Thanks Sam, we really owe you guys one." Edgar thought he was going to stay awake, but he fell asleep as soon as he leaned back on the arm of the couch.

When Sam woke up a few hours later, he saw Edgar was awake now, sitting up on the couch. He was watching Alan sleep, knees pulled up to his chest. Sam knew he was scared to take his eyes off of his brother, he would be too.

"He'll wake up."

Edgar nodded. "I know."

Sam scooted closer to the couch. "Mom'll want to take you guys to the hospital. I don't think that's a bad idea."

Edgar shut his eyes for a moment. "You don't understand, Sam. I told you before that it was complicated, well now it's gotten even more so."

"Look I know you guys don't want to lose the shop, but what if he has internal bleeding or something?"

"It's not about the shop anymore Sam." Edgar raised his voice a little. "Last night, the guy that did the most damage…he's our parents dealer. This was about business to him. If we took the shop, then they don't have money to pay him, and he's losing out on fairly steady pay. If we go to the hospital and they find out about our parents, they'll get in trouble and that guy will kill us. He's a psycho Sam, he had fun. He's probably looking for us now."

Sam did not know what to say to this. First their parents and now their parent's friend were the ones hurting them. If this guy really did want to hurt them, the first place he would look were the hospitals.

Lucy was in the kitchen when she heard the boys talking. She was going to see how Edgar and Alan were doing, but then she heard Edgar telling Sam why he did not want to go to the hospital. She could not believe her ears. How could a person hurt two little boys? How could their parents? She shook her head and wracked her brain on how to help them without putting them in danger. Lucy walked over to the phone and grabbed her address book, it was time to call an old friend.

The phone rang a few times before a man answered. "Bradly?"

" _Yes?"_

"Hi, it's Lucy Emerson, how are you?"

" _Lucy! Hello, I haven't talked to you in a long time. How have things been? I heard you moved back to Santa Carla."_

"Yes, I did. I've been meaning to call to catch up, but things have been a little crazy around here."

" _Well it's great to hear from you Luce, we should get lunch sometime and catch up."_

"Oh, that would be great. Although I must admit Bradly I do have an ulterior motive for calling you."

" _Oh? And what's that?"_

Lucy sighed. "I'm in a bit of a sticky situation, and I was wondering if you would be able to help me out with not a lot of questions asked. I know this is asking a lot, but once you see them you'd understand."

" _Wait a second, Lucy, what's going on?"_

"It's these boys, my son's friends, something's happened and it's a bit delicate. They came here last night and one is really beat up, but we can't go to the hospital for…very complicated reasons. I was hoping you could maybe come and check them. Make sure they'll be okay. I'm really desperate here Bradly, and I don't know what else to do."

" _Lucy, I've known you since High School, and I know you wouldn't be asking me this if it weren't serious. I shouldn't come over if it's something I'd have to report, but for you, I'll make the house call."_

"Oh Bradly, you have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you so much. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

" _I'll be over soon."_

"Alright, thank you."

Lucy went into the living room to check on the boys. Her heart broke at the sight of them. She came over and put a hand on Alan's head. He reacted to the touch, but did not wake up. She looked at Edgar who still could not keep his eyes off of his brother.

"How are you feeling?"

Edgar shrugged. "Like I got the crap beat outta me, but better than him."

Lucy gave a small smile. "I called a doctor." Lucy spoke quick when she saw the panic in Edgar's face. "He was a friend from High School, he's coming here, no questions asked. Is that alright?"

Edgar calmed and nodded. "Thanks."

Lucy smiled again. "Sam can I talk to you for a minute?"

Sam got up off of the floor. "Yeah, mom."

Lucy walked into the kitchen and made sure Edgar was not in earshot. "You knew something was going on didn't you?"

Sam's eyes grew wide. "I…ummm…n-no I just…"

Lucy sighed and put her hands up. "Sam it's alright, but why didn't you tell me, or anyone?"

Sam looked like he was about to protest, but then he blurted everything out. "I'm sorry! I promised them I wouldn't because it was a complicated situation, and I kept an eye on them. They said it didn't happen often, and I thought they were right. Things seemed fine, until tonight. I shoulda just told you when I found out, I knew I shoulda."

Tears peeked out of the corners of Sam's eyes. Lucy was going to lecture him, but she realized her son thought he was doing the right thing by protecting his friends. She pulled him into a hug and let him cry it out.

"It's okay sweetie. It's all going to be okay."

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	6. Healing

Dr. Bradly Morgan arrived at the Emerson house a couple of hours after he hung up with Lucy. As soon as Bradly was let in, he took a look at the Frog Brothers. Since Alan was worse off he checked him over first. Edgar still had not moved from his spot on the couch next to his brother, and he did not intend on moving until the older Frog woke up. He especially was not going to keep his eyes off of him while a stranger poked and prodded him.

"It's a good thing you called me Lucy. You did a good job here, but there are still a few things that need attending too." Bradly was putting something on Alan's eye to help the infection and swelling.

"Is he okay?" Edgar looked at the doctor.

Bradly smiled. "He will be. He's responsive, just needs a lot of rest so his body can heal."

The doctor motioned for Michael to help lean Alan forward so he could check his ribs. "It's hard to say for sure, but I think he may have a cracked rib." His eyes motioned down to Alan's arm. "Wrist shows signs of swelling too."

He went on to wrap up Alan's ribs, and wrist. He wanted to tell them to take the boys to the hospital, but he knew there was more to this than anyone was going to let him in on. After he was done fixing Alan up, he turned his attention to Edgar.

"And how are you doing in all this?"

Edgar shrugged. "I think they patched me up just fine."

Bradly looked at the various bandages covering Edgar. "You carried your brother all the way here didn't you?"

Edgar nodded.

"Can you stand now?"

Edgar gave him a weird look, but realized he had no gotten up since he got there the night before. Edgar used the couch arm to push himself up, but winced when he applied pressure to his right foot.

"Sit back down." Bradly took off Edgar's boot and sock and looked at his ankle.

Edgar did not even realize it was swollen. His entire focus had been on Alan he had forgotten about hurting his ankle when he jumped out of the tree. "How'd you guess?"

Bradly smiled as he wrapped Edgar's ankle. "I'm good at what I do. Plus the scratches on you look like they were caused by tree branches, so I figured you were probably in a tree and then had to run here, right?"

Edgar nodded.

Bradly finished putting the bandage on. "There. Now you need rest too. Everyone here is very capable of helping you two out, it's not just your job, alright."

"Thanks."

Bradly put a hand on Edgar's shoulder before grabbing his things and heading towards the door. He motioned for Lucy to follow him outside. Once they were outside Bradly looked at her.

"I know you don't want me asking Lucy, but these boys are in bad shape. If this is because of something…unexplainable, then I think you underestimate what that hospital has seen over the years."

Lucy gave him a small smile. "Unfortunately this is something very explainable. I almost wish it were something else."

"You aren't putting yourself into unnecessary danger, now are you?"

"I hope not." Lucy shook her head. "I need to take care of those poor boys. I won't let anyone else hurt them."

Bradly nodded. "If you need anything else Lucy, just call."

"Thank you. I really do owe you Bradly. I know coming out here wasn't an easy choice."

Bradly smiled. "No problem. Take care of them Luce."

Lucy nodded as the doctor left, she went back inside to check on the boys. When she went into the living room she noticed Edgar was back into his position on the couch. He was curled at the end, eyes on Alan. There was no way he was getting the right kind of rest scrunched up like that. She turned to her father who was sitting in a chair by the fireplace.

"Dad, where's that old cot you have?"

He got up from his chair. "Oooh, it's around here somewhere."

He went searching through the house to find it, while Lucy went over to talk to Edgar.

"You should eat something, sweetie."

Edgar looked at her and shook his head. "I'm fine."

"How about some soup?" She answered as if she had not heard him before.

Edgar gave her a small nod. He turned back to his brother, but spoke to Sam who was now sitting in his Grandpa's chair. "Your mom's being too nice to us."

Sam shrugged. "She's just like that. Besides, I think you two could use someone nice right now."

After a few minutes of silence, Sam's grandfather came back with a fold down cot. He set it up next to the couch and left to go find blankets and a pillow to put on it. Lucy came back soon after that and handed Edgar a bowl of soup.

"Now I want you to eat this, and then get some sleep, alright?"

Edgar nodded and took the bowl. Everyone made their way out of the living room leaving him in silence. He was worried about Alan, he still had not woken up, but he knew he was just asleep. Edgar had thought about waking his brother, but he did not want to make anything worse. Although he was hungry, Edgar was only able to finish about half of his soup. The want to sleep was outweighing his hunger, so he limped to the cot and fell right into a deep slumber.

When Edgar woke up next, it was to the sounds of someone near him. He opened his eyes and perked up when he saw Alan was stirring. His brothers was mumbling and making noises in his sleep. Edgar sat up a little and nudged his brother.

"Alan, it's okay. Wake up."

Alan jolted awake a little and winced. In a panic he realized it hurt to breath, but once he realized he was in Sam's house he calmed down. Alan saw the relieved look on his brother's bruised face. He coughed a little.

"How long was I out?"

Edgar thought for a moment. "'Bout a day?"

Alan nodded a little. "We okay?"

Edgar shrugged. "For now. How you feeling?"

"Probably how I look." Alan could tell his eye was swollen among other visible injuries. "How much do they all know?"

"No details, but enough to know what's going on. Sam's mom has been extra nice. Made sure we didn't go to the hospital, brought a doctor friend she knew here to check on us. You got a cracked rib, twisted wrist." Edgar reached for his glass of water on the end table.

"What about you?"

Edgar handed Alan the glass of water. "Twisted ankle."

Alan took it with help and drank small sips.

"How much do you remember?" Edgar took the water back.

"Bits and pieces after I got the shit beat outta me. Don't really remember being here."

Edgar was not surprised by that, he barely remembered the night before. "Wasn't easy getting us here."

"You think anyone's looking?"

"Mom and Dad aren't, but I don't know…we'll lay low for a while." Edgar worried what might happen if they ran into Lawrence again. He was a psychopath that seemed to take pleasure in making them suffer.

"You're awake!"

The brothers looked to see Sam in the doorway of the living room. Before they could say anything to him, he ran off to go get his mom. Lucy came into the room, followed by Sam with a look of concern and relief on her face. Alan realized how bad off he really was by the way everyone was acting.

"You had us worried." Lucy touched Alan's forehead.

"Well, I'll be alright. Thanks for what you're doing."

"Of course, sweetie. You should eat something."

Before Alan could protest, Lucy was off towards the kitchen. All he really wanted to do was close his eyes again and sleep some more, but he knew being out for as long as he was worried everyone a lot. Alan needed to stay awake long enough to eat something and convince them he was alright, even if he did not feel that way.

"You need anything?" Sam did not know what to do, it was hard to look at his friend in the state he was in.

Alan shook his head just enough for Sam to know he did not need anything.

Edgar was staring at his brother. Checking over every injury. He could not keep what he was thinking to himself any longer. "Why'd you do it?"

Alan knew exactly what Edgar was talking about. "I couldn't watch them hurt you anymore."

"You think it was easy for me? We could have shared it, then it wouldn't have been as bad."

"Or they would have killed us. We got away because you were able to. I shouldn't have made out those papers, none of this would have happened if it were for that."

"If it wasn't that, it would have been something else. We thought getting that out of the way was smart, but never thought they would actually find it." Edgar sighed.

Lucy came back with some soup and helped Alan sit up a little to eat it. Just getting a few spoonfuls in exhausted him. He was starting to fall asleep between bites.

"I think that's enough for now." Lucy helped Alan lay back down, and he was asleep before she could take the bowl away.

Edgar noticed how much soup was left in the bowl. "I'll eat the rest."

Lucy smiled and handed him the bowl. "Do you need anything else?"

Edgar shook his head no and consumed the remainder of the soup. After he was done, he too fell asleep. Both boys were healing, but still exhausted from the night before. They needed more rest than either realized. The next time Edgar woke up, it was several hours later. Alan was still asleep, and the house was quiet. His entire time schedule was completely thrown off; he had no idea what time it was, or even what day it was. He groaned as he decided it was time to try and get up. As soon as his feet touched the ground, pain shot up Edgar's leg. He winced and grabbed his leg, using the cot to lean on.

"You shouldn't be up yet."

Edgar turned to see Alan watching him. He sighed defeated, and sat back down on the cot.

"I'm already tired of being stuck on this bed."

"You'll be stuck there less than me, so deal. We're in no shape to get up, plus it's not like we have anywhere to go anyway." Alan looked away from Edgar.

"We'll figure this out."

"I know, everything just sucks right now."

Edgar gave him a small smile. "Yeah it does."

"Hey Edgar?" Alan was rubbing the burn on his arm.

"Yeah?"

"How far do you think it would have gone if we hadn't gotten away?"

Edgar did not want to think about that, but Alan was forcing him to picture how bad it may have gotten. "I don't know. That psycho didn't show any signs of stopping."

"You think he would have killed us?"

Edgar closed his eyes for a minute, he could not lie to his brother when he knew he was thinking the same thing. "I think he knew no one would have noticed if we disappeared. Sam's the only friend we got, and he would have just thought the blood suckers finally got us. So many people go missing in this town, he could have killed us and no one would have even batted an eye."

"Edgar?"

"Yeah, Alan?"

"I think he still might."

Edgar could see the fear in his brother's eyes, but he knew he was mirroring the look. They both had a feeling this whole thing was long from over, they just hoped they would be able to survive it again.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	7. Confrontation

**Thank you LostInSantaCarla3 and Rivinia1 for reviewing!**

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Over the next several days the Frog Brothers were camped out in Sam's living room, trying to recover from their injuries. Edgar was able to get up and walk around long before Alan was. Alan was only able to sit up on his own at this point, but that in itself was a triumph. The longer the boys sat around the more plotting they did for future vampire hunts. Sam had brought down a lot of his comic books to pass the time, but the two always went back to their passion.

"The boardwalk is probably crawling with blood suckers since we haven't been around." Edgar was looking at a map of Santa Carla.

"Yeah, they're going to flip when they find out we're alive." Alan agreed.

Sam only laughed at the boys, but did not want to break their enthusiasm.

Edgar looked up from his map at Sam. "You haven't been on the boardwalk by chance have you?"

Sam shook his head. "No, I haven't really gone anywhere since you guys got here. Haven't really had a reason."

Alan coughed a little. "Could you get a reason?"

Sam realized why the boys wanted him to go to the boardwalk. They wanted him to see if their parents had opened up the shop. They needed to find out if their business was still going, and if their parents cared at all about them. He nodded at his friends.

"Yeah, I think I can come up with a few reasons to go."

Edgar nodded. "Thanks Sam."

Sam made his way upstairs to find Michael; if he was going to check out the comic store, then he knew he would need some backup. He found Michael in his room, so he knocked on the doorframe and came in.

"Hey Sam, what's up?"

Sam sat down on Michael's bed. "Edgar and Alan asked if I'd go check on the shop today. See if they're parents are there. I was hoping you'd come too."

Michael sighed. "I can't make any promises that I won't say a few words to them if they are there."

"I can't promise that either."

"Okay then, we'll go, but I'm not sure we should tell mom until we get back." Michael nodded.

"Yeah, agreed." Sam got off of Michael's bed and headed downstairs with Michael in toe.

They checked around the corner to see if their mother was close by, but when they did not see her they decided to book it for the front door. The two boys were able to make it out of the house without anyone noticing. They were sure, though, that their Grandfather noticed his car missing. Michael decided if they were going to get in trouble for leaving, he was not going to add having his little brother on the back of a motorcycle to that fire. The boys made their way down to the board walk, and Sam was beginning to get nervous.

"What do we do if it's open? Or what do we do if it isn't? Should we try to look for them? What if we see them? What do we even say? Do we say anything?"

"Sam! Shut up for a minute. Just come on." Michael continued down the board walk until they came across a familiar shop

It was open.

Sam lunged for the entrance, but Michael stopped him. "Don't be an idiot Sam, just follow me and keep your mouth shut."

Michael walked toward the entryway as Sam followed with reluctance. He had so many things he wanted to shout at the Frog's, but he decided to follow his brother's lead on this. They walked into the shop and saw Mr. and Mrs. Frog burnt out on something, but with it enough to run their store. Anger flared up in the Emmerson boys, but they needed to play it cool.

After he approached the front counter, Michael spoke to the Frog's. "Hey, do you know where Edgar and Alan are? Haven't seen them in a while."

Mr. Frog stared at Michael for a minute. "I dunno man, we haven't seen them in a couple of days."

"Aren't you worried?" Sam could not help but interject.

"Nah, they do this all the time, leave and come back."

Michael held in his anger. "Why'd they take off?"

Mr. Frog paused, but shrugged. "I dunno man, they just do that. They'll be back."

Michael shook his head, grabbed Sam and left. He could not stay there any longer without laying into the Frogs. The further away the Emerson boy's got from the Comic Shop, the more irate they became.

"I can't believe them! They just sat there like nothing happened, when Edgar and Alan can barely even get around! Don't they know what they did?" Sam could not understand how he could act like that.

Michael wanted to tell Sam to calm down, but he was thinking the exact same thing. "I don't know why people do what they do, Sam, but maybe they were just so out of it they don't realize the extent of what happened." Michael wanted to believe that.

"They don't even care where they are!"

"I know. I know." Michael did not want to tell the Frog Brothers about their short interaction with their parents, but he knew they needed to know what was going on.

Sam realized that if the Frog's were at the shop, then no one would be at their house. "Hey, we should go grab some clothes and stuff for them, since we know no one's home."

Michael thought about what that house could look like after what happened, but Sam was right. "Yeah, yeah okay."

They made their way to the house and found it to be unlocked. As they entered the empty house, they noticed the living room was a little trashed, but no more than usual. Sam led the way upstairs to find Edgar and Alan's door cracked open. He went to push it open, but found something on the other side stopped it.

"There's something blocking the door." Sam looked at Michael before peeking his head inside.

Sam saw that the Frog Brothers desk was pushed in front of the door, and one of their beds was wedging it in. The room was ransacked, stuff was everywhere. The other bed in the room was overturned and the dresser was cleaned out, clothes strung all over the floor. The window was open too; no one had been inside the room since the boys escaped.

Michael had a feeling the room was bad. "Sam."

Sam pulled his head out of the door and looked back at Michael, his expression said everything. "I think I can fit through here, I'll open the door from inside."

Michael nodded and watched his brother disappear with unease behind the door.

Sam stood in the center of the room trying to imagine what went on that night. They must have been so terrified at what was going on. He noticed a shattered piece of wood on the floor and realized that must have been on hand to try and keep unwanted people out. They really would have killed his two friends if they had not gotten away. Sam snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Michael yell his name again. Sam turned to pull the bed away from the desk when he noticed a bit of blood on the sheets. He wanted to leave. He pulled the bed away, and then the desk, unblocking the door. Michael stopped when he saw the room.

"Jesus."

Sam needed out of there. "Come on let's just grab some stuff and get out of here." He picked up an empty backpack off of the floor and began filling it with clothes.

Michael helped Sam pack up some of their stuff, grabbing anything that may be important to the boys. On their way out, Michael grabbed their toothbrushes from the bathroom. They both wanted out of that house as soon as possible.

"Come on, let's go."

When they got back to their house they made their way into the living room where Edgar and Alan were eating lunch. Alan was still only able to eat a little bit, but Edgar was doing a lot better. Sam sat down on the chair in the living room and Michael leaned up against the wall. Edgar took a bite out of his sandwich before asking them what they found out.

"Was it open?"

Michael nodded. "Yeah."

"Were they there?" Alan already knew they answer.

"Yeah, they were." Michael looked away from the boys.

"It's okay, we know they don't care. Probably acted like we weren't even gone right?" Edgar shrugged.

"We just wanted to know." Alan mirrored his brother.

"I'm sorry guys, I thought they would at least act concerned, but they just said you'd be back around like always. It's like none of this even happened." Michael wished he could do more for them.

"They're too out of it to even notice. That's just how it goes." They could see the sadness in Alan's face, but he acted like everything was alright.

"We stopped by your house. Grabbed some clothes and stuff." Sam put Edgar's backpack on the ground.

Edgar gave a curt nod. "Thanks…was it bad?"

Sam nodded. "I'm sorry you guys had to go through all of this."

Edgar and Alan stayed silent.

Michael and Sam wished they could do something to make the Frog's feel better, but they knew nothing could be done. Over the next several days they tried to make the boys feel at home, keeping their mind off of what had happened. Alan was beginning to be able to get around a little bit, he was determined to get off of the couch as much as possible. He could not make it very far at first, but he was tired of being stuck there. Edgar would help him walk around the living room, trying to keep his strength up. Watching his brother hobble around the room just mad him angry about that night. Worst of all he knew it was only a matter of time until they would be forced to face them again.

Two and a half weeks had passed with no word from their parents. Michael and Sam would check the store occasionally to see if they were still there, but the two remained zoned out and uncaring. Alan was doing better, he was able to get around without help, and Edgar was almost completely fine; his ankle only giving him a bit of trouble. Sam walked into the living room to see the two boys having a deep conversation on the couch. Not a lot of words were being shared, but Sam could tell by the looks on their faces something was going on.

"Hey, what's up?" Sam came over and sat on the cot across from the couch.

"We appreciate how great you guys have been, but we're doing better now." Alan gave Sam a solemn look.

"We think it's time for us to try and get back to the store. Maybe…even go home." Edgar finished Alan's sentence.

Sam's eyes widened. "What? You can't! After what they did?"

"We can't stay here forever Sam, and we won't leave just yet, but we need to get back to our lives." Alan was worried about their decision too.

Sam shook his head. "It isn't safe for you two. Even if they act fine around you right now, who's to say they won't try something again? Or that psycho?"

"The only reason that guy got to us was because he thought we were going to take our parent's income away. We aren't fighting for the shop now, so he's got nothin' to worry about." Edgar hoped he was right.

"Guys, come on. This isn't a good idea."

"What do you want us to do Sam? Live on your couch forever, hiding away? We can't do that, we have to risk it." Edgar had made up his mind.

"Mom won't be happy about this." Sam was hoping to persuade them.

Edgar shrugged. "She'll have to understand."

"What if they kill you?"

Edgar and Alan looked at each other, but Alan spoke. "We're gonna be more careful this time. Don't worry about us Sam."

Sam knew that was no option for him. Right now Mr. and Mrs. Frog were more of threat to his best friends than the vampires crawling around the town. He just hoped no matter what happened, everything would end up okay.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	8. Face to Face

**Thank you Rivinia1 for reviewing!**

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Lucy was not happy when Sam told her that Edgar and Alan wanted to go back to the comic shop. She understood why, but that did not mean she had to like it. Going there was too dangerous for them, and she hated to think of something happening again. As much as she wanted to tell them they could not go, she knew in the end she had to let them. They would find a way to get there whether she wanted them to or not, but if she agreed then she could make sure they were not there on their own.

"I want Michael to be there with you boys. You aren't setting foot near them on your own." Lucy gave the boys a worried look.

Edgar nodded.

Sam jumped up. "I'm going too."

Lucy put her hands up. "Now wait a minute, Sam."

"He'll be fine mom, all of them will." Michael gave her a reassuring smile before motioning to Edgar and Alan that they could head out of the door. He put a hand on his mother's arm. "It'll be alright mom, nothing will happen there."

Lucy nodded, patting her son's hand. "I know, just be careful."

"We will. Love ya mom." Michael followed the boys out of the house.

Michael drove them to the boardwalk and then they walked to the shop. Alan was not sure if it was his nerves or the fact that he had not left the house in so long that was making him out of breath. They had to slow down and stop a few times, but finally they got to the shop. It was open again, and inside sat their parents. Alan could see the nerves on his brother's face as well. They both were thinking about turning back, but they kept going forward. When they got inside they looked around to see how things were getting along. Mrs. Frog perked up at the sight of her sons and came over.

"My boys. You're back." There was concern in her voice as if she had forgotten what caused them to leave.

"Yeah, for now." Edgar held back the temptation to start screaming at them for what happened.

Mrs. Frog's eyes landed on the large bruise still on Alan's eye, she reached her hand out a little as if she was going to ghost her hand over the bruise she initially caused, but instead she gave them a half smile and nod before going back to her place behind the counter. Mr. Frog remained behind the counter, and could not seem to make eye contact with his sons, even through the sunglasses. He was trying to look at anything but them.

Sam was looking at the comics, and turned his attention to the Frog Brothers. "Want help reorganizing these? Looks like there's a lot of work here."

That snapped the boys out of their thoughts, and Edgar spoke. "Yeah, okay."

They spent awhile reorganizing things in the store. Michael helped, but kept his eyes on Mr. and Mrs. Frog. He wanted to make sure they knew he was there to protect their sons from them. He watched as the two slipped out of the store, but the other boys did not notice. After they left he turned his attention back to Alan who was leaning against a shelf.

"You should sit down, we can handle this."

Alan nodded and made his way to the stool behind the counter. Sitting was definitely a good idea for a while. By the time closing came, Alan was exhausted. Edgar too was tired, he had been stuck at Sam's for so long, having an almost full day of work was taking its toll. As they were closing up, Lucy came in. She scanned the store for Edgar and Alan's parents, but was half relieved and half disappointed when she did not see them.

"Are you boys ready to go home?"

They all nodded.

"How was everything?" She looked at Michael.

Michael glanced at the younger boys. "A little rough. They mostly avoided us and then left."

Lucy put a hand on Edgar's shoulder as he walked by her. "Let's get home, boys."

When they got home, Lucy made dinner for everyone. The Frog brothers were quiet, while Sam tried to make some conversation throughout the meal. After dinner Edgar and Alan went into the living room, where Alan fell asleep almost as soon as he sat down on the couch. Edgar stayed up for a little longer with Sam, but he too was exhausted from the day. Sam was fiddling with his fingers.

"You think you'll go back again?"

Edgar nodded. "I think we have to. Even with them there. We can't just abandon the shop, and we definitely can't just sit around here feeling sorry for ourselves all the time."

"Well I don't think you guys should go without me or Michael."

Edgar was going to protest, but he felt better with them there. "Do what you want."

Sam nodded and stood up. "Get some sleep Edgar."

"Yeah you too." Edgar laid down and thought about the future for him and his brother. He hoped all the bad was behind them.

Over the course of the next few days, the boys would go to the Comic Shop and their parents would disappear sometime in the day. Michael and Sam always made sure they were with the boys, which relieved them. Knowing their friends were there gave them an excuse to ignore their parents. They did not want to say anything to them or even pretend like nothing happened. They just wanted to move on from what they did and hope nothing happened again. Sam helped out the Frog Brother a lot while he was there. He really knew his stuff and was able to organize all of their comics for them. The more the boys were there the better they were feeling about everything. Getting out and working everyday was making Edgar and Alan feel more like themselves again. Edgar even began talking about plans to take out more vampires. Everything was starting to feel normal again, and the boys wondered if it was safe to go home, or if they should still stay at Sam's.

After everyone had gone to bed one night, Edgar and Alan stayed up in the living room and talked about what they were going to do next.

"We can't stay here forever, bro." Edgar sat on his cot across from his brother.

"Sam's mom would let us though, if that's what needed to be done." Alan picked at a button on the couch.

"Is that what you wanna do?"

Alan shook his head. "No, I'm not saying it's ideal. I don't want to take advantage of them and make them take care of us, but if we go back who's to say they won't kill us next time they decide to get crazy?"

Edgar sighed. "I know. That's our home, and I wish I could say it would be fine, but you're right. We can't risk another thing happening. I can't watch them almost let you die again."

"It wouldn't just be me next time." Alan gave him a sympathetic look.

"So what do we do?"

"I'm not ready to go back there Edgar. It's not safe for us, and I don't know if it ever will be."

"Right now this is the safest place for us, so until something else comes along, I guess we'll stay for a while longer." Edgar knew that was the right decision, even though all he really wanted was to go back home.

The more the boys were at the Comic shop, the less they saw their parents. Edgar and Alan worried as to what they were doing when they were not around. They knew that them not being there meant they were probably out partying with their friends. The thought of that made them afraid to even think about going home. Of course when the shop was empty, the boys could not help but wonder what was going on outside.

Alan was sitting behind the counter while Edgar was rechecking the stock with Sam for the second time that night.

"You think our house has become their primary spot now that we're not there?"

Edgar put his clipboard down and turned to his brother. "Probably, can't imagine how trashed that place is now."

Alan did not say much else after that and Edgar went back to checking everything over. It was not until they were ten minutes from closing did their parents walk in. Mrs. Frog went straight up to the counter, causing Michael to go on the defensive.

"What do you want?"

She was a little taken back by the, to her, random teenager in front of her. "I just want to talk to my boys."

Michael looked at the Frog Brothers who nodded. He stepped aside so she could pass, but kept an eye on her and her husband.

"You boys look good." She gave them a small smile.

The boys only stared at her.

"Do you think you two can handle things for us if we're gone for a while?"

Alan stood up a little. "Where are you going?"

"To get help. Your father and I decided it would be the best thing for everyone. We don't know how long it will take, but we may be gone for some time."

Edgar and Alan stared at her stunned. They never thought they would hear those words come out of their mother's mouth. Edgar looked at Alan and then back at his mom.

"Yeah, I think we can handle everything until you get back."

She smiled and nodded at them. "Things will get better boys, it will."

She turned and left the shop with her husband. Sam saw the interaction and walked over to the still stunned boys.

"Did she just say they were going somewhere to get clean?"

Edgar nodded. "I think she did."

"That means their trying to make it up to you two. That means they do care." Michael hoped the reassurance would help them.

Once they closed up the shop, the Frog Brothers did not say much. They grabbed some food with Michael and Sam before heading back to Sam's house. When they got there they sat on the couch while Michael and Sam went to talk to their mother about what Mrs. Frog had said.

"You think they're serious?" Alan was staring at the deer head on the wall.

Edgar shrugged. "I don't know. They've never said anything like that before. Never thought they cared to try and get off that stuff, seems like that was all they cared about."

"What if they actually go through with it, do you even remember what it was like before they got hooked on that shit?"

"A little, but no matter what happens, we can never become some happy family; they ruined that a long time ago." Edgar clenched his fists.

"I guess we'll just have to see what happens." Alan did not know what else to think or say at the moment.

"Yeah, guess so."

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	9. Trouble

**Thank you Rivinia1 for reviewing!**

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As it turned out, Mr. and Mrs. Frog were serious about trying to kick their drug habits. The boys were shocked when they found out they actually went through with it. They had no idea what to think, or what would happen when their parents came back. Three days had passed since their parents checked into rehab, and since then no one was sure what to do. Lucy told them she was going to take care of them until their parents proved to the boys they were better, but Edgar and Alan were thinking about going home.

"There's no one to take care of the house right now." Alan was looking at his plate. Everyone was sitting at the dinner table eating when the discussion sparked.

"It's also closer to the store." Edgar chimed in.

Lucy shook her head. "I don't want you two on your own like that. Of course you should go take care of what you need to, but you boys should stay here. It's better that way."

Edgar and Alan looked at each other, they knew this was a battle they would not win. Lucy was in full mother mode, so they let it drop for the moment.

The next day Edgar and Alan got up to open their store and like always Michael and Sam were right behind them.

"You know now that they're gone, you don't have to help us at the shop if you don't want." Edgar looked at the Emerson boys as they walked outside.

Michael shrugged. "Gotten pretty used to it now, besides I've been hanging around the boardwalk most of the time you guys are working anyways."

Sam nodded. "And I really like helping out there, what other place can you read any comic you want all day?"

Edgar smiled a little. "Suit yourselves." They headed out the door.

"Plus you'd be lost without my superior knowledge of the comic verse."

"Shut up Sam." Alan shook his head as they made their way to the comic store.

Sam was helping organize like usual while Alan sat behind the counter. Edgar noticed his distant stare, and how is fingers grazed back and forth over the burn on his arm. He walked over and leaned against the counter.

"What's on your mind?"

Alan snapped out of his thoughts and put his hand down. "Just thinking."

"Care to enlighten me?" Edgar gave him a look.

"That psycho Lawrence almost killed us because we were gonna cut off Mom and Dad's money. What do you think he'll do when he finds out they're getting clean?"

Edgar felt an uneasiness bubble in his stomach. "He'll blame us for getting rid of two of his customers."

"So what do we do? It's not like he's a bloodsucker, we can't just stake him and get away with it." Alan wished the man that hurt them was a vampire, that would make everything a lot easier.

"We can never go home can we?"

Alan shook his head. "Not for a while at least. We just have to be careful I guess. Watch our backs."

Edgar nodded in agreement.

That is what the two did for the next few days. They were very careful everywhere they went. Both boys watched out for any sign of Lawrence or any of the other ones that were there that night. They were thankful that there seemed to be no indication that Lawrence was going to come back for revenge. No one bothered them at the shop or at Sam's. Having Sam and Michael around definitely helped ease their worry. Everyone had gotten to the point that they were letting their guards down. They let them down enough that someone watching began to see an opportunity.

It was a windy night on the boardwalk and everyone was about to close up. Edgar was counting the drawer while Alan went to pull in the comics from outside. When he went to go grab the rack, a big gust of wind blew through and knocked a couple of books onto the boardwalk. Alan caught one before it hit the ground, but the other one blew a little further. He went to pick it up when someone grabbed him and shoved him up against the wall. A hand went over his mouth preventing him from crying out, and Alan soon realized Lawrence was the one holding him there. His heart began to thud, and he tried getting away, but the man was stronger than him.

"Shut up." He smiled. "I've been waiting a while to get you alone, but it's been difficult. Now you listen to me. You are going to keep your mouth shut and follow me when I let go of you. If you yell for help or trying running from me, I'll go over after your brother. You are still the protective big brother right?"

Tears were already running down Alan's face. This could not be happening.

"Or maybe I'll go after your little friend who keeps hanging around you. He's younger than Edgar isn't he? I wonder if he cries like you."

Alan shook his head and gave him a muffled no.

"Good, now come on."

Lawrence let go of Alan and he froze for a moment wondering if he could manage to get help, but he knew the man would just run away and come after them later. He needed to protect his friends. He needed to protect his family. Alan looked back towards the shop wishing someone would come around the corner, but no one came. He followed Lawrence down the boardwalk, worried that this could be his last time ever on it.

Edgar had finished counting the drawer when he realized Alan had not pulled in the comics from outside. He could have sworn he saw him heading that way, but everything was still out there. He looked around the shop and saw no one, so he got up and went to the doorway. Alan was not out there so he pulled the comics in and went to the back. Sam and Michael were there sitting on the couch.

"Alan back here?"

Sam and Michael looked at each other before shaking their heads.

Panic began to rise in Edgar and he ran back out to the front of the store. Sam and Michael saw the fear in the Frog's eyes so they got up to follow.

"Alan!" Edgar searched the boardwalk in front of the store, but saw no sign of his brother.

Sam and Michael ran behind him looking around as well.

Edgar turned to the Emerson's. "He's not here."

"Where would he go?" Sam had no idea why Alan would disappear like that.

"I-I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this." Edgar continued to look around, hoping Alan was just around the corner.

By the time Edgar had run outside to look for Alan, he was already halfway down the boardwalk. He followed Lawrence thinking about running after every step he took, but his fear kept him following. He followed Lawrence all the way to the parking lot and to an old beat up car. Lawrence stopped and looked around.

"Come here." He motioned for Alan to come closer to the car.

Alan too looked around, hoping someone was nearby that could help, but the parking lot was deserted of anyone close enough to do anything. Alan took a few steps closer and Lawrence reached for the door handle. Before he opened it, he grabbed Alan by the back of his head and slammed him into the car door. Alan had no time to react before his conscious slipped away and he was thrown into the back seat.

Edgar, Michael, and Sam raced home in hopes of Alan being there. They knew it was a longshot, but they had to look everywhere. They rushed through the door startling Lucy who was in the kitchen.

"What's with all the noise boys?"

"Is Alan here?" Edgar looked at her with pleading eyes.

Lucy shook her head and worry grew in her face. "No, wasn't he with you?"

Edgar nodded. "We were closing the shop and he just disappeared out of nowhere."

Sam was trying to think of how this happened. "Maybe a vampire?"

"Maybe, but if he saw it coming he would have yelled out. There's no way he'd just let a bloodsucker take him, not without a fight."

"I don't know, they can be pretty persuasive." Michael knew how easy it was to get sucked into the life a vampire.

Edgar shook his head. "No, he wouldn't fall for anything like that. He wouldn't just leave either, not unless something happened."

"You think he went to your house?" Sam gave a hopeful look.

"Doubt it, but we should check anyways."

"I'll drive. Mom, stay here in case he comes around?" Michael was already halfway out the door.

Lucy nodded as her sons left. All she could do was hope that Alan was okay.

Michael sped down the road to the Frog residence. He did not even have the car in park before Edgar was out of the vehicle and inside his house.

"Alan? Are you here?" Edgar turned on the lights and searched everywhere he could think of.

He had already searched half of the house when Sam and Michael ran inside. Edgar had checked all the obvious places and now was running around looking anywhere else the boy might be. He stopped in front of the Emerson boys, who were also looking.

"He's not here either." Edgar threw himself onto the sofa.

Sam could see the fear in his eyes. He sat down next to him. "Don't worry, we'll fine him."

Edgar shook his head. "I just don't understand where he could have gone. Why didn't he yell or fight or something? If someone took him there was an entire boardwalk of people, how could someone get him without anyone noticing?"

"Could it be someone he trusted?" Michael was trying to piece this together as well.

"No way. We only trust each other, and the only other people we really know well enough is you guys."

"What about a girl?" Sam looked hopeful.

Edgar shrugged. "I don't think he'd just chase after someone, not without saying something at least."

"Girls can make guys crazy, you never know. He may just turn up, Edgar. He could be just fine." Michael did not believe the words out of his mouth, but he hoped they gave Edgar some peace of mind.

"Come on, I don't think he'd come here." Sam was trying to get Edgar to come back to the house with him.

Edgar shook his head. "No, I think I'll stay here tonight just in case. You two go 'head."

Sam looked at his brother. "We'll stay with you. Mom can keep a lookout at home."

Michael began to walk into the kitchen. "I'll call mom."

"Don't worry, we'll find him." Sam gave his friend the only words of encouragement he could.

Edgar said nothing but wracked his brain on where his brother might be. His gut was telling him exactly what happened, but he hoped he was wrong.

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When Alan woke up the first thing he noticed was the soreness in his ribs. They still had not fully healed yet so he assumed they got jostled around when he was being carried to wherever he was now. That being what looked like a basement; one that had boarded up windows. Probably enough so no one would hear him if he screamed. Alan went to move, but found his hands chained to the floor. There was some length to it, but not a lot. He did not like this one bit. His body started to shake as he came to the realization that this could be his last moments of life. He was about to try and calm down and figure out if there was a way to escape when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. All the calm he had in him left at the moment only to be replaced by pure terror. When Lawrence got to the bottom step, Alan scooted back as far as the chain would allow him, he knew it would not do much good, but he had to try.

"What do you want with me?" Alan tried to hide the fear, but he knew he was not doing a very good job at that.

"I told ya kid, it's all about business. That little fiasco before happened because you tried to take over that shop your folks own." He began to circle Alan like a vulture. "Your parents happen to be one of the few clients I have that receive a semi regular income. Their good on their debts, but then you and your little brother go missing and they get the bright idea that maybe it had to do with them. Now my little tadpole, they've run off to get clean, and I'm out a lot of money."

"That still doesn't explain what you want."

Lawrence smiled. "There's a reason I only took one of you. I need collateral to get what I'm owed. We are going to find out how much your brother is willing to pay to buy you back, and believe me I won't sell you cheap. He can pay me in installments of course." He crouched down in front of Alan. "But you will keep me company until I feel like our debt is squared away."

"So you're just gonna keep me here?" Alan was almost afraid to ask.

"That all depends on how bored I get. I can still get paid if you aren't breathing." Lawrence got a look in his eye that sent a chill down Alan's spine.

Alan screamed as the man came at him. He had no time to react before the beating came. All he could do was to try and block each blow, but being chained to the floor meant he had nowhere to go. Alan was stuck with this psycho with no way out.

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Edgar had not slept the entire night in worry of Alan. He instead grabbed the map of Santa Carla out of his back pack and began looking for places Alan may be. He first looked at potential vampire nests and had a few possibilities. He also had other ideas of where Alan may have been taken, but those places would be harder to figure out. When the sun came up Edgar jumped off of the couch and put his map back in his bag.

"I'm going to the shop to see if he shows up there. Ask the other shops if they noticed anything last night."

Sam wiped his tired eyes. He did not mean to fall asleep, but he could not have helped it. "Yeah, we're comin' too."

Michael had managed to stay awake for the night, but was looking sluggish. He still managed to get up and follow the boys outside. He drove them to the boardwalk and noticed once they got there the worry in Edgar was growing with every step. He was looking around at every person, stopping to check people from far away. He too was doing the same thing, but he could only imagine what was going through the Frog's mind. When they got to the Comic Shop Edgar stopped causing Sam to run into him.

"What?" Sam followed Edgar's eyes to something on the padlock of the pulldown door. "What is that?"

Edgar approached the door with caution, seeing red standout on the object. When he got up close enough he almost lost the strength in his knees to hold him up. Hanging on the padlock was Alan's dog tags. He pulled them off the door and held them up. They were covered in blood. Sam stared wide eyed, while Michael felt his insides bubble.

Edgar squeezed the chain in his hand. "I know who did this."

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	10. Bargaining

Sam, Michael, and Edgar were standing in front of the Comic Shop. Edgar was holding Alan's bloody dog tags in his hand. Sam and Michael were looking around to see if the culprit responsible for hanging the dog tags on the door was still around, but they did not see anyone watching them, or looking out of place.

"That psycho did this. The one that hurt him before. He's got Alan." Edgar turned to Sam.

"How do we find him?"

Edgar shook his head. "I don't know. It'd have to be somewhere that no one would notice someone screaming from getting the shit beat out of them, but that's most of the houses in Santa Carla. The ones off of the beach anyway."

"Well what do we know about this guy?" Michael hoped there was a clue to finding him.

"Not much, just that he's a drug dealer named Lawrence. Don't even have a last name for 'em."

"Well there's bound to be people that can track him down, we'll find him." Michael just hoped Alan would be okay when they did find him.

Edgar held up the dog tags. "This was a message. He wants something."

"What?" Sam was not sure why this guy would go to so much trouble.

"Money probably, he was pissed before that we were going to try and take the shop. Said he'd be losing money if Mom and Dad didn't have income. I'm sure he wasn't too happy to hear they both checked in to rehab." Edgar wished he would have thought about all this before. He just wanted to get his life back to normal.

"We could go the police. Maybe they can help?" Sam shrugged.

Edgar huffed. "You've seen how many missing posters there are of kids? Cops don't care when people go missing, even if we know who did it. They won't go lookin'."

"There has to be some way to get the upper hand on this guy." Sam was trying to think of a way to help.

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Lawrence had beat Alan bad enough that he thought he might die. Every inch of him screamed out in pain. He could barely think anymore. Somewhere in between punches Alan had passed out, and now he had woken up alone again. The windows were too covered to see if it was day or night, but Alan had a feeling he had been out for a while. He knew Lawrence was planning on doing more, he also knew that no matter what he asked of Edgar he was still going to kill him in the end. Probably Edgar too. Alan looked around the basement again to see if there was anything he could use to get out. The chain around his wrists kept him on a short leash, so there was nothing in arms reach. He also knew screaming for help was a bust, even if they were close enough to another house, someone would have heard him when Lawrence was obliterating him before. Alan was starting to realize that the psychopath had everything thought out; he just hoped Edgar thought of something to beat this guy.

Alan was already conditioned to flinch at the sound of footsteps coming down the basement stairs. Lawrence walked straight up to him with a small smile on his face. Alan was too weak to move back, not that it would do him much good. There was no getting away from this guy. He felt like he was breaking fast.

"This plan of mine is all coming together my little tadpole. Your brother is sitting around right now with no idea if you are alive or dead. Not that it matters, I won't let him know, takes the fun out. Though I may have come a bit close to that line before." The man was admiring his handy work.

"Please, just stop. If you want money, we'll give you money. Just let me go." Alan looked at him with pleading eyes.

Lawrence laughed a little. "Now what fun would that be? Besides things are already set in motion. I can't waste that now. As a matter of fact, I need to make a phone call."

The man smiled and went upstairs. Alan shut his eyes trying to think of a way to make everything stop. He wondered what was happening on Edgar's end. Lawrence acted as if he was messing with him just as much. He wished he knew exactly how everything was going on, and how it would end.

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Edgar, Michael, and Sam were sitting in the closed Comic Shop coming up with a plan to track down Lawrence and find Alan. Finding a drug dealer in Santa Carla seemed like an easy task, but finding him and then being able to follow him to Alan were two different things. They knew they could track him down by asking the right people, but even so, people in that line of business did not often invite people over to their houses. The boys were not even sure if Alan was being kept at this man's house, or if he was being kept somewhere else. At this point, Edgar was not even sure if his brother was alive.

The phone rang making the boys jump out of their thoughts. Sam answered it figuring it was a customer, but then he handed the phone to Edgar.

"It's him."

Edgar straightened up and took the phone from Sam. "Where is he you son of a bitch?"

" _I see you got my gift."_

"Just let me talk to my brother."

" _No, I can't do that. You don't get to make any rules or deals here. What I say goes, and that's how it's gonna be until I get bored with you. Got it?"_

Edgar was squeezing the phone so hard he thought it might break. "What do you want?"

" _Money obviously. You're parents decided to up and leave, and they were good customers. You know how this works. I need that money Ed. Big brother gets to be collateral whether he's alive or not, which you don't get to know. That's just added fun on my end. No what I need from you is half of your profits at the end of each week. I'll send someone to collect, follow him if you'd like it won't do you any good. You won't be finding Alan. Bye now."_ He hung up the phone.

"Wait!" Edgar waiting on the line until he heard the dial tone.

"What'd he say?" Sam hoped he gave a clue to his whereabouts.

"He wants money. Won't tell me anything about Alan. Sounds like he's planned everything out, I don't think we can find him by anyone else. We have to figure out where he is on our own." Edgar slammed down the phone.

"So what do we do?" Sam felt like they were losing at this point.

Edgar looked just as lost. "I don't know."

Now that the boys knew what was going on, they went back to Sam's house to fill in Lucy and her father about what was going on. They hoped that maybe one of them could come up with a plan. Anything to help them find Alan before it was too late. Assuming that it was not already too late.

Lucy was in tears when they told her what was happening. "This isn't right. There has to be something we can do."

"In this town?" Sam's Grandfather grunted. "Cops don't do shit, and the vampires run everything. Right now all we can do is hope this asshole slips up and gives us a hint to where he's keeping that boy."

Michael perked up. "Hey, I may have an idea, but I need to check out some things first." He began to head for the door.

"Wait what is it?" Sam held out his arms.

Michael was putting on his jacket and almost outside. "Just do what this guy says for now, I don't want to give your hopes up if this is a bust. I'll be back as soon as I can!"

He left leaving the boys in a haze of confusion.

"What was that about?" Edgar looked at Sam.

Sam shrugged. "Dunno, hopefully it's something good."

Edgar looked at the clock, it was almost six. Prime time for the Comic shop to be open. "Come on Sam, the best way to keep Alan alive right now is to make some money at the store."

Lucy put her hands on the boys' shoulders. "Please be careful boys. If you even think for a second you're in trouble come straight back, alright?"

"We'll be okay Mom." Sam gave her a reassuring smile before leaving with Edgar to go back to the boardwalk.

Edgar hated this. Sitting at the shop acting like everything was fine, when everything was the opposite of fine. That psycho had Alan somewhere doing who knew what to him, all the while keeping Edgar wrapped around his finger. In that moment he hated his parents for bringing that man into their lives. If it were not for them, they would not be in this mess at all.

All night Edgar could not stay focused. Sam had to stop two people from shoplifting, but convinced one of them to actually pay for what they were trying to take. All he could think about was what was happening to his brother, if his brother was even alive. As much as it hurt Edgar, he wanted to believe Lawrence was sick enough in the head to keep Alan alive just to torture, but he also knew that the longer Alan spent with the man, the more likely he was to go too far. Edgar knew if they did not find a way to his brother soon, Lawrence would kill him in the end anyway. Giving him money did not matter, it just bought them some time. At least that's what the younger Frog hoped. At the end of the night Edgar and Sam where closing up when Michael came in with Star. The boys looked at each other and then at them.

"There may be a way to find Alan, but you're not going to like it." Michael gave Edgar a look that made his stomach twist.

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Alan was thankful for the absence of Lawrence for the past several hours. At least it felt like hours. Well really it felt like days, but he knew he could not have been there that long yet. His instinct to cringe came before he even heard Lawrence coming down the stairs. He looked so pleased with himself. In his hand he held a plate of food he sat down for the boy.

The man smiled. "Everything is going exactly to plan. Poor little Edgar doesn't know what to do."

Alan knew if he spoke he would get hit so he stayed silent. He wanted to ignore the food in front of him, but his hunger outweighed his deterrence. He began to pick at the food when Lawrence grabbed his face and squeezed it.

"Nothing to say to me after I brought you food?"

A glare flared across Alan's face, but he complied. "Thank you."

Lawrence let go not so gently and Alan went back to his food.

"You should be thankful boy. I could let you starve, but I've decided to keep you a little longer than that. So much fun can be had with you, and I intend on making the most of your visit here." He walked upstairs leaving Alan with those words.

Alan had a feeling Lawrence was planning on getting creative with how he hurt him. He remembered the joy on the man's face when he burnt him that night, he could only imagine what he was planning now. Before Lawrence was trying to make a point to everyone else in the room, so he could hope that he would not go to extreme measures to hurt him, but deep down Alan knew better than that.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading. Only one chapter left!**


	11. Resolutions

**Last chapter! Thank you so much everyone for reading!**

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Edgar waited for Star and Michael to tell them what they were thinking. "So, what's this plan of yours?"

Michael looked at Star signaling her to tell him.

Star smiled a little. "Ever since we got turned back we've been trying to stop other kids from making the same mistake. I've been talking to other runaways trying to warn them. Some know about the vampires, others think I'm crazy, but we've stopped a few."

"What's the point?" Edgar did not understand what this had to do with Alan.

"Last week I warned someone about drinking vampire blood and he didn't believe me, but then he ended up doing just that and now he wants help finding a way to turn back. He's terrified of what could happen and wants out." Star waited to see if Edgar was connecting the dots yet.

His blank stare told her he did not understand what she was getting at.

"This guy can help us find your brother."

"You mean a vampire. Trust a blood sucking demon? No way."

Michael intervened. "Edgar you have Alan's dog tags with his blood. The guy Star met can track him down by smelling that blood. We can find him and save him before it's too late."

Edgar was thinking. "What's the catch?"

Star looked at Michael. "We help him after he finds your brother. Find the leader of the pack that turned him and kill him."

"Not much of a catch, you do that all the time." Sam was trying to help convince Edgar.

"Using a vampire to find a vampire hunter…Alan will never forgive me for this, but desperate times call for desperate measures." Edgar sighed.

Michael nodded and patted him on the shoulder. "This is our chance to find him Edgar, it'll be okay."

Edgar shook his head. "I hope so."

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Alan had no idea he had fallen asleep until he woke up to Lawrence sitting in front of him. The man had been watching him, which sent chills up his spine. Alan sat up the best he could and waited for Lawrence to speak.

"You know I haven't even gotten a cent for you yet and already I'm getting bored. I think it's time to add some more fun in the mix, don't you?"

Alan was too scared to try to reply, his eyes instead went to the extension cord Lawrence was holding. He watched as Lawrence pulled out a knife and cut the end off. He then stripped the protective layer a few inches before spreading out some of the wires. After he was finished with that, the man got up and plugged the extension cord into the wall. Alan realized where this was going.

"Don't worry little tadpole, I won't kill you, just going to have a little fun."

"Please don't do this." Alan shook his head as he pulled on the chains keeping him in place. He had to try anything to get out of there.

As Alan struggled, Lawrence calmly walked over and jabbed Alan with the cord in his hand. Alan jumped as the shock went through his system. The shock was quick, but painful, even more so because Alan knew this was just the beginning. Lawrence jabbed him again a few more times, before pressing the cord onto Alan longer. Each time the shock went through his system, Alan felt like all the oxygen in his body was replaced with pain. His screams echoed off of the walls and bounced back through him. When the cord separated from him he took in big breaths followed by tears of agony. Lawrence gave him a couple of minutes in between shocks to recover.

Alan could not stop the tears from falling. "P-please, please stop. I can't handle anymore, please it hurts so bad."

The look on Lawrence's face was almost concern, but Alan knew better. The man was amused by his begging. Instead of stopping, Lawrence poked Alan with the cord again. The shock made every bruise and sore part of him flare up in even more pain. It continued to the point where Alan thought he may lose consciousness. Lawrence must have seen the glassy look in his eyes because he stood up and unplugged the cord.

He laughed a little as Alan fought to stay awake, the boy thought if he closed his eyes he may never open them again.

"Rest now little tadpole, that's enough fun for tonight." He wound up the cord and headed back upstairs.

When the door shut, Alan could still feel phantom shocks running through his body. He tried to stop the tears still coming out of his eyes, but Alan had never felt so scared. David's vampire attack was close, but at least then he had Edgar. Now he was alone.

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Edgar and Sam were waiting on the Comic Shop for Michael and Star to return with the half vampire she had met. The longer they sat, the more the anger in Edgar boiled. Sam began to notice the increasing mood of the single Frog.

"What's going on Edgar?"

Edgar shook his head. "How we can trust a blood sucker to find Alan? He's going to lead us to a trap or something and then we'll never get him back."

"We're sort of running out of options here man. I think this is the best chance we have." Sam knew this was the only way they might find Alan alive.

"Yeah well, I don't have to like it."

Sam held his tongue because of the circumstance. Otherwise he would have yelled at Edgar for being dramatic, but he knew his friend did not need any lip from him at the moment. He just hoped Michael and Star got back soon. He knew the longer it took to find Alan, the less chance he had of being alive.

Finally after what seemed like forever there was a knock on the grate door. Edgar, being Edgar, grabbed a stake and prepared himself before sliding open the door. He looked at Sam, who felt the need of caution as well, but only if it was not his brother on the other side of the door. Edgar counted to three and then pushed open the grate. He held up the stake alarming Star, Michael and the half vampire with them.

"Hey it's us!" Michael held up his hands.

Edgar lowered his stake and moved over so they could come in. "I know."

Star huffed a little before introducing them to the man beside her. "Edgar this is Derrek, he's here to help."

Edgar glared and took his spot behind the counter again. "Just so you know the only reason I'm not staking you right now is because my brother's life is on the line, but if you try anything I won't hesitate. Capiche?

Derrek stepped closer, glaring back. "The only reason I'm not jumping across the counter and ripping your throat out is because I'm not too keen on having people as a food source. That's why when I find your brother, alive or not, you kill the guy that did this to me. Got it?"

Edgar growled a little, but nodded in agreement.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Good, now that that's out of the way can we got find Alan now?"

"Let's go." Edgar nodded and they left the shop to go to Michael's car.

Once they got to the parking lot Derrek held out his hand. "Okay, let me see it."

Edgar pulled Alan's bloody dog tags out of his pocket and handed them over to the half vampire. Derrek grabbed them and sniffed them. Michael could see the familiar look in the man's eyes. Derrek looked around now sniffing the air. He shut his eyes for a moment before nodding ahead of him.

"That way."

The all piled into the car and Michael drove in the direction Derrek had said. They drove fast down the road with the top down, following Derrek's directions along the way. They drove for a little while, causing the entire car to sit in anticipation.

"Stop!"

Michael slammed on the breaks. They were on a narrow road surrounded by mostly trees.

"Up there, I can smell his blood, still pumping."

As Michael drove up the hill, Edgar glared at Derrek. "That just earned you a ticket to watch the car."

They parked a little ways from the old house. Edgar had to restrain himself from running in screaming. Now that they were there he realized he had not thought past getting there.

"So what's the plan, we can't just run in there and risk Alan getting killed."

Michael shook his head. "No, we're going to look around and figure out a way in as quiet as possible. Sam you stay with Star."

"What no way!" Sam protested.

"Sam, it's not up for debate. I don't want to have to worry about you in there, so just stay."

Sam threw himself back into the seat. "Whatever."

Edgar followed Michael as they walked around the house looking for a way in. Edgar had walked a little ahead of Michael when the older boy called his name. He came back over to find him looking around.

"This window is unlocked. Come on." Michael opened the window and climbed inside.

Edgar climbed in behind Michael. The house was quiet and seemed empty, but the lights on told them someone was probably home. As they began to make their way through the house, a creak behind them made both boys jump and turn around. Derrek was standing there.

"I thought I told you to stay." Edgar whispered.

"It's gonna be faster if I help, so just chill out and move." Derrek walked past him and smelled the air.

He began to walk, so Michael and Edgar followed. He made his way to a door and opened it, making as little noise as possible. There were stairs that led down into the basement. A whimper made Edgar begin to bolt, but Michael and Derrek stopped him. Michael put a finger to his lips telling Edgar to be quiet. Running down there would only make things worse. Michael led the way as he stepped down onto the first step. As he stepped down he leaned so he could see into the room. There was Alan, chained to the floor, and not looking good. Lawrence was sitting in front of him, with a cord in his hand. Michael continued to sneak down the stairs, but then one creaked causing both Alan and Lawrence to look up. The man acted quickly by getting behind Alan and wrapping the extension cord in his hand around the boy's neck. Michael ran downstairs alarming Edgar and Derrek. They knew something was wrong, so they ran down too. Edgar's eyes widened.

"Let go of my brother." Edgar was terrified.

"Edgar." Alan chocked out.

"My rules boys. I said that from the beginning. You think you coming here helps anything? No you just sealed his fate!" Lawrence squeezed the extension cord.

Rage filled up in Edgar and he charged at Lawrence. He tackled the man to the ground causing him to let go of the cord around Alan's neck. Alan unwound the cord and shoved it out of reach. Lawrence punched Edgar in the ribs and threw him off of him. He shuffled to the extension cord, but Michael kicked him just as he reached it. None of them realized the cord was live and plugged in, not until Michael was on the ground writhing around. Edgar tried to jump in and stop the man from electrocuting Michael, but he punched Edgar away. Alan tried reaching for the cord, but the chains around his wrists stopped him from getting close enough.

Meanwhile Derrek was by the stairs trying to control himself. Blood was in the air, and he could feel himself changing. He dived at Lawrence and began to punch the man over and over. He was about to bite into his head when the man, still holding the cord, jabbed him with it. Derrek fell on the ground, but got back up. Lawrence stared at him in terror. Derrek ripped the cord out of his hand and was about to shock Lawrence back when he heard Star screaming his name. She grabbed his shoulders.

"No Derrek, if you kill him you become one of them!"

Derrek stared at her breathing heavy. He growled as he threw the cord on the ground and took a deep breath to calm down. Instead of ripping Lawrence's throat out, he decided to kick him in the face, knocking him out. Sam was downstairs now as well and ran to where the cord was plugged in, and yanked it out of the socket. Everyone stood still for a moment, processing the events that had just occurred.

Star had gone from Derrek, who was now calming down, to Michael who was still recovering on the floor. Edgar sat up and made sure Lawrence was knocked out before running to his brother. He hugged him tight, only pulling away when Alan winced, but the boy did not let him go.

"I didn't think you'd be able to find me."

"I'd never give up on you bro."

Sam gave them their moment before coming over to assess what needed to be done now. He looked at the chains around Alan's raw wrists.

"We need to get you out of those."

"He might have a key, but I never saw one." Alan glanced over at Lawrence, but did not want to look at the knocked out man.

Sam scuffled over to search the man for a key. Michael was up now keeping a close eye to make sure Lawrence did not wake up from his unconsciousness. He looked at Star and motioned for her to go upstairs.

"Call the cops, this guy can't be allowed to roam free."

Star nodded and went upstairs to call the police. Michael then went over to the unplugged extension cord and picked it up, bringing it back over to the man using it on him minutes before. He tied his hands and feet with it preventing him from getting away when he woke up. Sam had finished searching his pockets.

"There's no key."

"Look upstairs, Star can help you."

Sam nodded toward his brother and ran upstairs. Michael came over to Alan to assess the damage. The boy was in bad shape. He was beaten, shaky, and terrified. Edgar had an arm around his brother reassuring his safety. Michael sat down in front of them. He noticed how raw and bloody his wrists were from the chains he was in. He hated to think what he had been through.

"It's all over now Alan. He's not gonna hurt you anymore okay. We'll get you out of here."

Alan gave a shaky nod. "I know, just wish it was now."

Before Michael could say anything there was a noise coming from the other side of the room. Alan flinched back and scooted closer to Edgar who held him tighter. Michael stood up and went over to Lawrence. The man was waking up, and beginning to pull on the cord wrapped around him.

"Get this shit off me!"

Michael glared. "No way. Now shut up and sit there why we wait for the cops."

Lawrence spit in Michael's face causing Derrek to come over and growl at the man. Lawrence leaned back in fear and shut up.

Alan calmed a little when he realized Lawrence could not get to him. "You teamed up with a vamp to find me?"

Edgar shrugged. "Did what I had to."

"Guess I can forgive it this once."

"Won't happen again."

Sam came running downstairs with a key in his hand. "I think I found it!"

He ran over to Alan who held his hands out. Sam tried the key and was more than relieved when he heard a small click. Alan wasted no time in getting the chains off of him. He did not want to spend another minute down in that basement. Once both chains were off he looked at Edgar who helped haul him up. Sam grabbed his other arm to help as well.

Michael turned to the other boys. "Go upstairs and wait for the cops with Star. We'll stay down here and make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

Edgar nodded and they began to help Alan get to the stairs.

Alan turned towards Michael. "Thank you." He gave one last look at Lawrence hoping it was the last time he had to see his face. Even though the man was caught, being watched by a creature that wanted to eat him, he managed to give Alan one last evil smile. One that would stay with him forever. Alan tried to shake that off as he limped up the stairs.

When the police came everyone tried to explain exactly what happened without mentioning vampires, or the first time Lawrence came into the boys' lives at their parent's house. There was some confusion, but Michael was able to take charge, and get everything sorted out as best as he could. The police arrested Lawrence and hauled him away to jail, while paramedics came to look Alan over and get him to the hospital. Edgar would not leave his side for the rest of the night. He only moved far enough away from his brother to let the paramedics do what they had to. Any further and he worried something could happen again.

"We'll meet you at the hospital." Michael assured Edgar they would be right behind them. He wanted to call Lucy first to fill her in on everything, and drop Star and Derrek off to where they needed to be.

Michael decided to just use Lawrence's phone while he was still there, it was not like he needed it anymore.

"Hey mom, we found him. They are taking him to the hospital right now."

" _Oh my God, is he alright?"_

"He will be, just needs some attention."

Michael could hear Lucy's distress on the other line. _"I'll meet you there."_

"Okay, I have to drop Star off at home, but we'll be there after that. Love you."

Michael hung up the phone and gathered everyone else to follow him to the car. He could not wait to leave that place behind him. He dropped Derrek off first, and the boy turned to him before letting go of the car.

"Don't forget our deal."

Michael nodded. "Don't worry, we'll take care of it, we just need to make sure Alan is okay first."

Derrek nodded before leaving.

After Michael dropped off Star, he and Sam went to the hospital where Lucy already was. They caught up with her in the lobby. Sam rushed up to her and gave her a big hug before pulling away.

"Any word yet?"

Lucy shook her head. "No, not yet. Edgar is still with him, so I don't think there is anything too major to take care of. At least I hope not."

"He's a tough kid, he'll be alright." Michael put a hand on his mother's arm to reassure her.

After an hour Lucy spotted Bradly Morgan walking into the lobby. She rushed up to him and he gave her a small smile.

"Lucy, I saw Alan in the ER and had a feeling you would be here."

"How is he?"

"He'll be alright, but he did go through a lot. His past injuries were agitated, and he has some fractures and burns." Bradly looked at the boys. "If you guys hadn't found him when you did, I'm not sure how much longer he would have lasted."

Lucy had tears in her eyes. "Can we see him?"

"He's resting, but I'm sure Edgar wouldn't mind the company." He put a hand on Lucy's arm.

She put her hand over his. "Thank you."

He nodded as they left the lobby and headed to Alan's room. When they got in there it was hard to see Alan laid up in a hospital bed. It reminded them all of the night the boys came to their house not so long ago. Edgar perked up when they came in, his face was full of worry, and his eyes were tired. Lucy hugged him.

"Oh I'm so glad you boys are okay."

Edgar gave her a small smile. "Well you have your boys to thank for that."

Sam nodded towards Alan. "How's he doing?"

Edgar shrugged. "Okay, they gave him a lot of drugs to knock him out, but before that he seemed alright. It'll take a while for him to get back to normal, but he will."

They talked for a while before Lucy began to notice Edgar nodding off. She was determined to stay with Edgar and Alan, and would not let him persuade her. In reality, Edgar was happy she was staying with them, he did not really like being alone in a hospital room, especially without Alan to talk to. Sam and Michael decided they would too stay, but they camped out in the lobby since there was not much space in the room. Anytime one of them woke up in the night they would come check on the boys and their mother, but they were sound asleep almost every time.

The next morning Alan woke up and was happy to find himself away from the basement. He thought he dreamed Edgar coming to his rescue. Edgar noticed Alan waking up and leaned forward in his chair.

"Hey bro, you gotta stop waking up like this."

Alan smiled a little. "At least you aren't in the same boat this time."

Edgar ignored that, if he could have traded places with Alan he would have in a heartbeat. "How you feeling today?"

"Just glad to not be there anymore." His face grew serious. "I really thought I was going to die down in that place."

Edgar shook his head and put a hand on his brother's arm. "Not yet, bro, we still have too much to do."

"Yeah, we're gonna go out in a blazing glory fighting bloodsuckers."

"That's right." Edgar smiled at this.

Lucy, who was still asleep began to stir. Her face lit up when she saw Alan awake and talking. "Oh sweetie we were so worried. Are you hungry?"

Alan had not processed being awake enough to realize that he was starving. "Yeah, actually I am, think I might be back to soft foods though."

Lucy smiled at him and left to go see what she could get him to eat. Edgar stayed with Alan for the rest of the morning. Michael and Sam came in and stayed as well. Edgar could see Alan growing tired as the day went on. He himself was deep in thought when he remembered the promise he made to Derrek.

"Hey Alan, I need to leave for a little bit, but I'll be back soon."

Alan fought off sleep for a little longer. "Where are you going?"

Edgar looked at Michael. "There's just something I have to go take care of, but I won't be gone long. Just rest, Sam will be here."

Lucy smiled. "And me."

"Okay, see you soon." Alan yawned and shut his eyes.

Edgar motioned for Michael to get up and follow him. Sam jumped up as well and left the room.

"You're going after that head vamp aren't you?"

Edgar made sure Lucy was out of hearing. "Yeah, and you are gonna stay here and watch my brother."

"But I can help!" Sam protested.

"Sam, just stay here okay." Michael gave him a look.

"You can come on the next one, alright?" Edgar nodded and walked towards the elevator.

Michael picked up Derrek after they got Edgar's supplies, and he told them where to find the head vampire. Michael made sure he was right about the guy, remembering his mistake with Michael. Derrek seemed sure, said that the guy that turned him boasted about creating him. That was good enough for Edgar, he did not care if had to kill a hundred vampires until he got the right one; the more he killed meant the less there were to infect the world. Michael pulled up to an abandoned factory.

"They have a lair in the basement." Derrek put the hood of his sweatshirt up to protect him from the sun.

Edgar snarled as he got out of the car. He had his fill of basements for a long time. "Let's just get this over with. We only have a few hours before sundown."

When they walked into the factory, Derrek showed them where the basement door was. They walked downstairs as quiet as they could. Edgar shoved Sam's bow and arrow that he took with them in Michael's hands.

"Here think you can handle that?"

Michael took it, but kept quiet.

"Here." Edgar gave Derrek a flask of holy water.

"Are you serious?" Derrek did not want to touch it.

"Just make sure none spills on you and you'll be fine." Edgar waited for him to take it before moving on.

Flies were starting to gather, so Edgar knew they were close. The smell was getting more intense when Derrek told them to stop and pointed up.

"There. He's the one towards the back."

Above them were three vampires hanging from the pipes, two men and one woman. The ceiling was lower than a cave, but the creatures still hung about two feet above Michael, Edgar, and Derrek. Edgar jumped right in not giving Michael and Derrek much time with a plan. He ran straight up to the leader and tackled him down. The attack was fast enough that he was caught off guard by the blows now coming to his face. His hiss woke up the other two, and they jumped down. They were heading for Edgar who was now being thrown off of the leader, but Michael shot one with an arrow making him fall apart where he stood, and Derrek threw the holy water at the girl of the group. She screamed and ran towards him, but Michael grabbed her from behind. Edgar kicked the vampire he was fighting hard in the crouch, and the creature bent over long enough for him to kick him in the face. He then ran at him with a stake and pinned him against the wall, making the wood go into his chest. The vampire stared wide eyed at him, but Edgar was not done. The boy punched him over and over again, as the vampire shook from being staked.

Michael struggled with the woman in his arms. "Grab an arrow!"

Derrek stumbled as he reached for another arrow.

"Do it!" Michael held her still long enough for Derrek to squeeze his eyes shut and plunge the arrow into her. She disintegrated in Michaels arms.

Michael turned to see the leader of the pack begin to sizzle and burst ooze all over the place. Edgar was on top of him now punching him into nothing. The boy was crying with each blow, yelling out as if that vampire had done something to him in person. Michael ran over and grabbed Edgar who fought him as he dragged him away from the oozing corpse. He sat on the ground with Edgar who could not stop the tears from flowing.

"Shh, it's okay. Everything's okay now. No one is going to hurt you guys anymore. Alan's safe."

Edgar continued to cry in Michael's arms. He had tried to push himself away from everything that had been going on, but it was finally hitting him. He took out every emotion that he had out on that vampire. Once the leader had completely disintegrated, Michael looked up at Derrek who gave a sigh of relief.

"It worked. Thank you."

Edgar wiped his eyes and stood up. "We're even."

He walked out of the basement and back upstairs into the sunlight. Once they got into the car he looked at Michael. "Could ya not mention any of this to Alan, he'll be mad he missed out."

Michael knew the real reason he did not want his brother to know, but he nodded anyway. "Yeah, this can stay between us."

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Over the next several weeks Alan began to recover from his time with Lawrence. He was in jail and no longer a threat to them. Once Alan got out of the hospital, he and Edgar continued to stay with Sam, but made several trips back to their house to check on it, and pay any bills they had. They talked about moving back in, but Lucy always convinced them to stay with her. A couple of months after everything happened they went to visit their parents to see how they were doing. The couple was actually trying. Edgar and Alan did not tell them anything that had happened in their absence in fear of how they would react. The Frog brothers knew that their parents being straight would not last, but they both hoped they would get to go home when they got out.

Edgar and Alan still feared what might be out there. They both suffered from nightmares of what happened, and what could have happened. Even though the threat was gone, sometimes they got jumpy. When they went home they worried what could be waiting for them. They threw themselves into the cause, hunting down any vampire rumor that surfaced and working out ways to destroy each one of them. They never thought they would fear a human more than the monsters, but really he was a monster too. They had no idea what lie in their future, they knew going home once their parents got out of rehab was risky, but they also knew they could call or go over to Sam's anytime things felt dangerous. They had another family now, one that really cared about them, and that would protect them at all costs.

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 **AN: The End! Thank you all so much for reading! I have some more ideas for Lost Boys stories, so keep a lookout!**


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